March Wrap-Up: Reading, Watching, Listening, Favorites

Happy Spring, everyone!

I had so many grand plans for my blog this month. There were ideas for posts, I even made drafts of them and knew when they’d go up. Did any of that happen? Obviously not. I’m not entirely sure what’s wrong with me other than that things at work have been super bizzare and hectic lately, that when I get home, my brain is fried and I don’t want to do anything but sit in front of the TV and zone out.

It happens.

But, I did get reading done and I have a few other things that have been going on in March I can share with you all!

* = affiliated link

Reading

(Click on the image on the far right to scroll through to see all the covers!)

Once Ghosted, Twice Shy* (Reluctant Royals #2.5) by Alyssa Cole: Contemporary F/F Romance

This past year I’ve totally jumped on the Alyssa Cole bandwagon. She's so fantastic! She has two series going right now, her historical romance during the Civil War called The Loyal Leauge which is amazing! Then this one, Reluctant Royals which is a contemporary romance series. This novella follows one of the side characters we met in book one and it was cute and fun!

Mortal Heart *(His Fair Assassin #3) by Robin LaFevers: Historical Fantasy

I finally finished my re-read of the His Fair Asassin trilogy before I jump into the new book! I decided to listen to it via audio this time around and it was super long so it took me longer than usual. Which was fine though because I liked being able to sink into it and let it last as long as it wanted because Annith is my favorite.

My Favorite Half Night Stand* by Christina Lauren: Contemporary Romance

I read my second Christina Lauren book this month! After falling IN LOVE with Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating in January I had high expectations for this one and it did not disappoint! In fact, this one hit me so hard in the feels, which I did not expect! There were so many elements with this amazing friend group, friends to lovers romance, and online dating that I could relate to SO HARD and brought up some memories for me. (Some which were hard to bring back, but it’s okay!) I’m officially a Christina Lauren fangirl now and already have two more of their books lined up to read.

Certain Dark Things* by Silvia Moreno-Garcia: Vampire/Horror/Urban Fantasy

I’ve been meaning to read this book literally for years! It was fantastic. This Aztec inspired vampire story was right up my alley. I loved the different take on vampires and while at first it took me a bit to get into the characters, by the end I was far more attached than I realized!

Save the Cat! Writes a Novel * by Jessica Brody: Non-Fiction

Full disclosure: I’ve never taken a writing class or really read any books or anything about writing. The only “training” I’ve had is maybe a panel or two at a con and listening to podcasts. I decided it’s high time that changed! I’d read a blog post about the Save the Cat outlining method and it helped me so much when outlining my revisions. So, I decided to pick up the book. OH MY GOODNESS this was so great! It helped me SO MUCH in figuring out what was going wrong in my book and how to fix it and now I’ve been telling every writer I know to read this book and I’m craving even more resources on story structure.

Water Runs Red * by Jenna Clare: Poetry

I had the privilege to read an early draft of my friend Jenna’s poetry book several months back and I’m so proud of her and how she’s been able to self-publish this book about friend break ups! (Which we really don’t talk about enough.) To be completely honest, I know nothing about poetry and rarely read it. That being said, I fully enjoyed this book and I think it’s going to resonate with a lot of people.

One Day in December * by Josie Silver: Contemporary Romance

I’d seen a bunch of people read this book over Christmas and a friend said I’d probably really enjoy it. At first I thought it was a Christmas book, and while the first chapter takes place at Christmastime and there are a few Christmas scenes, it truly is a year-round book so I decided to place a hold on it at the library. (GOODNESS that line was long though!) I was blown away by how much I loved this love story. It takes place over 10 years and following these characters through the years and I could completely relate to our heroine! It’s super heartwarming and even people who aren’t big romance fans I can picture enjoying this book.

Kill the Queen (Crown of Shards #1)* by Jennifer Estep: Dark Fantasy

This is the book I’m currently reading. It’s been sitting on my shelf for months and I’m so glad I’m finally getting to it. It’s taking longer than I’d like, but it’s only because I’m also really needing to get writing done and I’ve been busy with a writing workshop. So, sadly my free time has been taken by that and not by reading this book. I was able to get a good chunk read the other day and I’m about half through and it is SO SO GOOD. This is exactly my type of epic fantasy where the world building is rich but easily weaved into the narrative, the characters who jump off the page, but the story still moves. It’s one of those where while it’s over 400 pages, it doesn’t feel like it is.

Watching

Queer Eye on Netflix

YES! The Fab 5 is back and I couldn’t be more excited! I’ve already binged all of season 3 and like everyone else, I basically cried in each episode. But seriously, how can you not love these guys? There are seriously days when I start to feel down about myself, or I get frustrated with something in life, or even just can’t figure out what to wear and I think “what would the Fab 5 tell me right now?” and it honestly helps! If we all could live our lives the way they do and learn to embrace other people and genuinely love them, imagine how much better this world would be.

Can we have season 4 now?

American Idol on ABC

I usually don’t get into American Idol. The only season I ever got really into was season 2 with Clay Aiken. (My BFF and I were obsessed with him in high school.) I watched it last year but the people who were my favorites didn’t make it very far. Then, I caught the first few episodes of the auditions and now I’m hooked.

Especially because of this guy. I need his album immediately.

Vampire Diaries on Netflix

Yes, I’m kind of rolling my eyes at myself with this one. I’d watched this series a few years ago and while it was ridiculous, I also loved it. Then, I fell off the wagon and last year I binged the last couple of seasons. Which then made me miss the early seasons which were the best ones. Of course, I then went right back to episode one. I’d watch it on and off until finally this past month I was finished with all of the other shows I was watching and figured I might as well just complete the rewatch. By the time we get to the last couple seasons though, I’m basically just living for the last two episodes where Katherine comes back.

Boy Meets World on Hulu

Boy Meets World - AKA the greatest sit com out of all the 90s sit coms. I WILL FIGHT YOU.

Seriously though, I adore this show. It’s one of my all time favorites. It has the same cheesy plot lines as some of the other 90s sit coms, but there’s something a bit more genuine and heartfelt about it. Also, it’s hilarious. Also, Cory and Topanga is the greatest love story of my generation. I have all the seasons on DVD, but the lazy side of me is very happy it’s all on Hulu. I just finished season one, and can’t wait for season two. (Which is one of the best seasons in my personal opinion.) It’s one of those shows where I’ve seen every episode so many times I can have it on in the background and not fully pay attention but will know exactly what’s happening when I do, and laugh at all of the jokes no matter how many times I’ve heard them.

Listening

David Tennant Does a Podcast With…

I’d heard while back that David Tennant (aka the best Doctor) started a podcast and I meant to subscribe, then for some reason never did. I finally started it a couple weeks ago and it’s so great! It’s basically him sitting down and interviewing people and I don’t even care who he’s talking to because I love him and his voice so much. It’s a relaxing and fun show.

Showmance with Kevin McHale and Jenna Ushkowitz

In case you don’t know who Kevin and Jenna are - they’re Artie and Tina from Glee.

Yup! They started a podcast together and while they’ve only had one episode so far, my little Gleek heart could not be more delighted.

Kevin and Jenna are IRL BFFs and (kinda/sorta/it’s complicated) had a small romance during their time on Glee. They said there’s a lot of other performers out there who also are either good friends or in romantic relationships while also working together, and it creates an interesting dynamic and on their show they interview them about it. The first episode they interview one another and it’s wonderful. I love listening to them relive their Glee days.

“Flamingo - Virginia Hill” parts 1 & 2 on Female Criminals

I’ve mentioned the Female Criminals podcast in the past and I’m still morbidly obsessed with it. The most recent story I can’t get enough of is about Virginia Hill who to this day the most influential female in the mob. She’s gone now, but no other woman has matched her status. By the time she was in her early 20s, she had connections to the mobs in Chicago, New York, LA, and Mexico.

Not that we should aspire to be high profile criminals but… when I listening to her story I couldn’t help but be at least a little impressed.

My Favorite Things

NYX Matte Finish Makeup Setting Spray*

Oddly enough, I’ve never tried a setting spray for my makeup before. I thought I’d give this one a go since I’ve been using some of other NYX’s products and have had good results. This is fantastic! I should have been using it before. I tend to use long lasting makeup anyway because I don’t have time for many touch ups at work, and this helps to give it that extra boost to keep it all in place.

Colour Pop No Filter Matte Concealer

I was running low on concealer and I love ColourPop’s lip products and decided to give their concealer a go. It’s great so far! Surprisingly enough, the shade I bought is slightly too pale for me so next time I need to get it a tad darker. But, it still works just fine!

Smashbox Primers*

Yes, another product I’ve never used before is a primer. I got a bunch of samples with an Ulta order recently and it came with some primers from Smashbox. They were so great! How have I not used these before? I have no idea what they’re supposed to do, but my skin was surprisingly soft all day and that was enough to sell me on them. However… the full Smashbox product is a bit out of my price range. If anyone has recs for a more budget friendly primer, let me know!

Things I Did This Month

Dear Evan Hanson

For Broadway fans, I’m way behind on this bandwagon. I’d listened to the cast album for this show a couple of times and watched the performance on the Tony Awards, but didn’t really “get it.” It came to Chicago and some friends and I decided to go. The tickets were out of my usual budget for these things, but since it’s so popular I kind of expected it. Well… I get it now. This show is so wonderful! I will say this though - with your ticket they should also include a box of tissues, a therapy session, and a comfort dog.

C2E2 (Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo)

This event is basically Chicago’s ComiCon. (We have one of those too I’m pretty sure, but this one is more popular.) I’ve gone a couple of times before and some friends from out of state were coming in for it. Besides…. they were having a Clueless reunion.

Yes. Yes, that is four members of the Clueless cast hanging out. I was in the same room as them. I was way closer to the stage than it appears in the photo, but due to my lack of height I still had to just look at the screen. But, I was still there!

Even beyond the Clueless reunion, this was such a fun event. I love seeing all of the cosplayers, I met one of my favorite authors, hung out in artist alley, and got to catch up with one of the artists I met last year. This has quickly become one of my high priority events of the year and I’m going to need to start considering getting a 2 or 3 day pass instead of just one. It’s more expensive of course, but I’d love to have more time to see everything I want to. I mean… the day after I went David Tennant had a pannel!

Anastasia

Yes! I saw not only one, but two musicals this month! Which basically means this was a big win for me. My sister and I went together a few days after her birthday. I was slightly nervous about it because I knew they’d made some pretty major changes from the movie to the musical. The story itself was still the same, and they had the songs, but still some big changes. However, I had nothing to worry about. It was done in a way where I could keep the animated movie as something separate from the stage show and see how while they were the same story, they were still their own thing. For what they wanted to do on stage, the changes made complete sense and worked so well! My sister and I cried a couple of times and it was wonderful.

On The Writing Front

Plotting Your Novel Bootcamp

An author who’s been helping me out the last several months was taking part in the workshop and said she thought I’d enjoy it as well. It was the first time I’d forked over money beyond buying a book to learn about writing, so it was a bit different for me. But it was helpful! I got started in it late and didn’t totally catch up to where everyone else in the workshop was, but I got all of these great resources and am still going through the workbook.

Revisions

Yes, I’m still working on my revisions for White Rose. I don’t know how long revisions usually take people, but I feel like mine have been taking forever. Far longer than I’d like. Then, I had a break through. On March 31st. And now I’m changing almost everything. Yet again.

Revising is weird my friends.

New Ideas

Yes! I have a new book idea! I won’t share much about it yet, but it’s in a new genre I haven’t really played around with before. Which… I’m slightly nervous about but also excited. I don’t have a whole lot done on it yet because I’m still working on White Rose, but I have characters and some plot ideas jotted down. When I (finally) get White Rose revisions done I’m hoping I’ll have enough brainstorming done for this new book idea where I can jump into it while beta readers are working through White Rose.

Speaking of beta readers - if you like fantasy, fairy tales, and romance, let me know! Cause I’m looking for a reader or two to give me feedback. No set date yet since revisions are taking so long, but I will be needing them!

There’s my March! While writing and revising hasn’t been going as I’d hoped, with all of the events I went to March ended up being a pretty great month. What did you do in March? Read anything you fell in love with? Do you have podcasts, movies, or TV shows to rec?

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Like what you read? Consider buying me a coffee.

February Round-Up

We’re going to do something a little different this month for my wrap-up! As much as I love talking about all of the books I’ve read, I also want to share more of what else I’m enjoying lately. On top of it, I want to get away from doing book reviews.

I’ll be dedicating a whole blog post to this in a couple of weeks, but there’s a couple of reasons for it. 1) To be honest, I’m not great at reviewing books. There are some people who are amazing book reviewers and can do some wonderful critical commentary on them. I’m not one of those people. 2) As I’m working on pursuing my writing career, it’s usually recommended that you don’t have public book reviews anywhere. It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a long time, and I agree. Even if I’m being professional in my review if it happens to be a bit negative, why should I be publicly posting something that’s negative about a potential co-worker? It doesn’t make sense.

I’m of course not going to stop talking about books. There’s going to be a ton of blog posts in the future talking about books so don’t worry about that. I think I’m physically incapable of not talking about books. But, I’m going to be cutting out actual reviews.

So… here’s what I’ve been enjoying in Feburary!

Reading

Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor

I read the first book in this duology, Strange the Dreamer last year and it was one of my favorites! This book was a lovely follow-up. Her writing is so full of wonder and magic.

The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

What an ADORABLE debut! This was a book chosen for PitchWars a year or two ago, and her mentor was Brighton Walsh whose books I’ve read. From what I can tell, it was a fantastic pairing because I loved this book. With our delightful and autistic heroine and the charming hero in a gender-swapped Pretty Woman type of story - you won’t be disappointed.

The Sisters of the Winter Wood by Rena Rossner

If you want a quieter fantasy filled with wonder, sisters, and romance, this is for you! It has so many fairy tale influences and it’s steeped in Jewish culture. Then it has this interesting dual point of view chapter format where one sister’s POV is done in verse. I’m not usually one for poetry, but this was lovely.

A Hope Divided by Alyssa Cole

The first book in this series, An Extraordinary Union, was another favorite of mine last year. This one was just as good! If you want historical romance, but it’s not all balls and carriage rides and everything, you’ll love this series set during the Civil War.

Lethal White by Robert Galbraith

It took me months, but I finally finished this book! It took me far longer than it usually does, and I listened to the audio book which worked better for me than reading the physical book. The ending makes it worth it.

Currently Reading:

Mortal Heart by Robin LaFevers

I’m re-reading this one because I’d re-read the first two in the trilogy not too long ago, and with the release of the follow-up duology being released, I needed to revisit Annith’s story. I’m listing to the audio book this time and really been enjoying it. This book features one of my OTPs and knowing what I know, I can’t stop giggling as I listen.

The Ruin of Kings by Jenn Lyon

This is a debut epic fantasy novel and one of my most anticipated of the year. It’s taking me longer than I anticipated, but this world and story are so rich.

Listening

Wonder Women Podcast - Carrie Hope Fletcher and Celinde Shoenmaker

I’ve been a fan of Carrie’s YouTube channel for some time and when I saw her announce she was starting a podcast with one of her friends I thought I’d give it a shot! They mostly talk about general women’s issues and history. It’s really fun and it’s like sitting in on two friends having coffee. It’s a little scattered and their episodes could be a bit more organized, but that will come with time as they go. There’s only been a couple episodes so far!

Snark Squad Pod - Emma & Romantic Comedies

I’ve been loving the Snark Squad Pod ever since it was released last year, and this past month I particularly loved their episodes on Emma and Romantic Comedies. As a Jane Austen fan, it was fun to hear them talk about their histories with the story of Emma, thoughts on the books, and comparing all of the adaptations. Then to celebrate Valentines Day they talked about romantic comedies which was also ridiculously fun and I ended up binging all of my favorites once I finished the episodes.

How to Train Your Dragon Soundtrack

I recently went on a writing retreat with some friends and I was looking for some new music to listen to while I got work done. One of them suggested the How To Train Your Dragon soundtrack (to be honest - I’ve only seen the movie once so I never would have thought of it!) and it was wonderful! Especially for fantasy and some more battle/action-y type scenes. I’ve really been into instrumental music while I’ve been writing lately and this was exactly what I needed.

Smash Cast

I recently discovered that I can rewatch old episodes of the short-lived musical TV show a few weeks ago and… it created a monster. I basically have the music from the show playing non-stop now and it makes me far happier than it should.

Watching

The Bachelor

Yes, I fully admit that I watch this show and I get SO INTO IT. Especially this week! Ever since they showed that at one point Colton jumped the fence because he was tired of it all I was completely hooked this season and have been waiting for this moment. I’ll be honest - I was hoping it was a little earlier in the season because how great would it be if the Bachelor left the show but they kept on filming and we just got to see all of the women become BFFs and travel the world together? I’d watch the crap out of that show.

But, the drama this week has been legitimate. I think for once Chris Harrison has been honest about this being “the most dramatic episode ever.” I mean, it’s worse than when Rachel cried her tears off with Peter.

Smash

As I said earlier, it’s taken me forever but I finally realized how I can stream old episodes of Smash on the NBC app and it’s made my musical theatre loving heart incredibly happy. Also - when can this Marylin Monroe musical be a real life thing? I’d totally fly out to NYC to go see it.

Brooklyn 99

I’m late to the party on this one, but I finally have started watching Brooklyn 99. I’m only in season two and it’s ridiculously fun. I think Sergeant Terry Jeffords is my favorite. But all of them are pretty fantastic.

A Million Little Things

We’ve already had the season finale for this new show and why is it over???? I don’t understand! I don’t care about the other new shows coming in for the spring/remainder of the winter season. I wasn’t sure about this show at first because it seemed like ABC just wanted their own version of This Is Us. Which… it kind of is. But, I for sure got into the mystery and loved the different characters. Especially Maggie and Gary. They’re my OTP of the show.

This is Us

Of course I’m still totally into This is Us. But I’ll be completely honest - I’m getting really bad at Randall this season. His wife Beth is the actual best ever and they’re so perfect together but RANDALL IS MESSING EVERYTHING UP and if he continues on this path I’m not sure if I’ll still believe in true love.

Deadly Class

A friend of mine recommended this new SyFy show to me a few weeks ago so when I had a couple of days off I binged the episodes which were already out and have been trying to keep up with the new releases each week. I don’t read graphic novels, so I’m not familiar with the ones this show is based off of. However, I don’t feel like I’m missing anything by not reading them. I typically enjoy stories about assassins for some reason and stories about boarding schools - this is the perfect combination of both! It’s this odd cross between a “typical” high school/coming of age TV show (they have an episode that is a throwback to The Breakfast Club and one about a prank war) but you know… the stakes are a tad big higher. As in, they’re all murdering each other. So you know, good times.

Also, it stars our sweet girl who played Laura Jean in To All the Boys I Loved Before but now she’s this awesome fierce assassin and I couldn’t be more proud.

Miracle Workers

Being the over the top Harry Potter fan I am, as outrageous and odd as some of Daniel Radcliffe’s other acting projects have been, I still have to at least test out each one of them. I have to admit - this one is one of my favorites so far. He works in the “answered prayers” department of heaven and he along with a small team have to help two people on Earth find love in order to save the world. If you take off your theology hat - it’s hilarious and endearing. It’s a great cross between The Good Place and a workplace comedy.

Favorite Things

Flavored Water

I’m ridiculously unhealthy and I’m attempting to drink more water. Usually all I drink through the day is coffee, tea, and pop. Which… isn’t good. I have a nice little water intake tracker in my bullet journal and while I haven’t gotten my whole 8 cups of water a day in yet, I’m well on my way. It was particularly helpful when I found out that flavored sparkling water counts toward your daily intake. My favorite brand is Ice Mountain, and because I don’t particularly enjoy water on it’s own, I’ve been keeping fruit in my freezer and putting it into my water bottle each day. Pineapple, strawberry, and mango is a lovely combination.

Not Your Mother’s Dry Shampoo & Hair Straightening Spray

I swear by dry shampoo and this brand has been fantastic. It’s affordable, doesn’t leave a weird texture in my hair, and actually helps to liven it up. Then, the same line has a hair straightening spray and it is the ACTUAL BEST I’ve ever tried. You just spritz it on your hair before blow drying and it leaves my hair so silky and smooth. It’s the closest I’ve gotten to having it as smooth as it is after I go to the salon and I’m in love.

UGG Boots

Yes… I realize that I’m like 30 years behind the game. (Okay… more like 10ish years but you get the idea.) When I was in high school and college and everyone else in the world was wearing these boots I just never understood it and wore whatever I could afford. Well, this winter has been brutal here in Chicago. It. Is. Cold. On top of the ridiculous cold, we also had a couple of weeks where we were slammed with ice and snow and sleet and basically every combination of winter weather you could think of. My tall fake leather boots I was wearing every day just weren’t going to cut it.

I found a pair of discounted boots online and thought I’d give them a shot. Thankfully, I tried them on in the store and they were too small. So, I perused the shelves and there were a pair of UGGs in my size. I tried them on because I was curious. “Surely they’re not SO GREAT that they’re worth how much more expensive they are than the ones I’d already picked.”

Well… I was wrong. They were amazing. They’re so much warmer than my other boots and the tread has been great on the ice and snow. So, I splurged and now I live in them.

My Bullet Journal

I’ve tried bullet journaling on and off but was never able to to fully keep up with it. I’m terrible at drawing and i wanted my journal to look as cute as everyone else’s that I saw on Pinterest. So, I switched to a planner which already looked pretty and I could add stickers. But, I still wanted a journal to jot down notes, work on brainstorming, and organize other elements of my life. I kind of half-assed my journal and it wasn’t super organized.

When a friend of mine started a bullet journal she kept on sharing all of her cute layouts and designs and it made me wish I’d given it a fair try. I found some simple ways to make mine look cute and put more thought into the layouts I’d actually use. Now, I love it! I still use my planner and my journal might not look as elaborate and cute as some others, but it’s still pretty fantastic. I might do a separate blog post on how I’ve been using it at a later date.

How was everyone else’s February? Read, watch, or listen to anything you truly loved? Any recs for me? Do you bullet journal?

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Like what you read? Consider buying me a coffee.

Creating a Writing Retreat - A Guide

WRITING RETREATS.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve heard about these mystical and magical events where other people emerge from their dark writing caves filled with caffeine, blink into the light, and gather together to…

Lock themselves into a house also filled with caffeine and write ALL OF THE WORDS and actually get things done.

But seriously I’ve seen different writers post about how they and their friends get together for a weekend (or longer) to write and they come out with fifty million words added to their novels or whatever other writing projects they have going at the moment. Or, there’s the ever elusive (and expensive) Writing Excuses Cruise hosted by the podcast hosts that seriously a dream of mine to attend.

Last year, a writer friend of mine, who has more writer friends than I do, decided we all should get together and have one of these magical events. We got on an email thread together and over the summer we rented a cabin for the night so we could write.

It. Was. So. Fun.

Which meant that six months later, we planned another one. This time for two nights and we’re considering making this a bai-annual thing. Now that we’ve done it a couple of times, I thought I’d share some of the insights I’ve gotten while planning these events.

* I have a few links in this post - but it is not sponsored and I don’t get commission from you clicking on them! (But… if people want to sponsor me I won’t say no. Ha!)

Location Location Location

The place you pick is one of the most difficult and important elements of setting up your own writing retreat. There’s a lot of factors that play into what you and your group may need.

• Set a budget. Depending on your group, you might have varying degrees of what people are willing and able to spend. Be sure to communicate with one another about what you’re willing to do. One person might be okay with spending a bit more if you can find a better location, while another person is willing to sacrifice some amenities in order to keep costs down. The AirBnB we used was a total of about $310 and we divided the cost among us depending on how many nights each person was staying.

• Have plenty of beds and bathrooms. We had a group of six and there were a couple of people who were willing to share beds, while others didn’t. Also, some people were fine sleeping on a couch if necessary. (Thankfully, it wasn’t this time around!) Another thing which was great about our AirBnB was how it had two bathrooms. With three out of the six being pregnant… it was helpful.

• Have spacious common areas. Since we made a few of our own meals, it was important we had a good kitchen. There was a full refrigerator, microwave, stove, dishwasher, two coffee makers, and a tea kettle. For counter space there was a long bar area and other spaces to prepare food as well. We had a kitchen table which seated four, several bar stools, and the living room had two small couches and a couple of chairs. To keep that community feel, you need a space where you can all gather to hang out and write together. Also be sure you have table space for people who want to write on an actual table and not just the couch. You need plenty of space to spread out and work.

• Decide how far you’re willing to travel. For our group and all of our different work and life schedules, we didn’t want to travel too far. Especially for such a short weekend. If our retreat was able to be longer (5-7 days vs only 3) maybe we would have been willing to go further. Then, some of us lived in Illinois, while others were in Wisconsin. Our first retreat we did up there and this time around we stuck to the Chicago area. I think the furthest people had to drive was about 1 1/2 hours. If this is going to be a recurring event for you and your writing friends, consider alternating which locations you’re going to so the same people aren’t driving long distances more than others.

• Confirm details about the location with your host. Our AirBnB host was great and so willing to communicate before the trip and even during the trip. (He even replied to our messages late at night!) Clarify details such as parking, Wifi, how to unlock the doors, if there’s anything additional you need to do when you check in/out, and local places to eat.
  
  

ALL THE FOOD

You can’t write all of your glorious and beautiful words without nourishment - right?

• Decide which meals are on your own and which are going to be as a group. For us, we were all arriving at different times Friday night and Saturday morning. Which meant we decided to do dinner on our own for Friday, and play it by ear on Saturday. (Although I ended up bringing donuts and we made a Starbucks run on Saturday cause the store had an AMAZING sale on fresh baked donuts and I couldn’t say no.) Everything else we ate together.

• Divide up who brings and makes what. I’m the actual worst cook ever and volunteered for beverages and snacks along with one of the other girls. I found this easy winter rum punch recipe so I could make a bulk beverage for the group. (And you added the rum after you made the punch and it tasted great both with alcohol and without - which was perfect for our pregnant friends or those who simply didn’t want to drink!) Then, I put together a big batch of classic Chex Mix for us to munch on. Two of the other girls volunteered to make lunch because they were great cooks and enjoyed doing so. (Paninis and soup!) Another two volunteered to make breakfast for Sunday morning. (French toast casserole with all the toppings!) Saturday for dinner we ordered a pizza. Needless to say, we ate very well over the weekend and it was delightful.

• Make a coffee/caffeine plan. This might not be a priority for everyone, but for me and a few other girls in our group it definitely was! We found a Starbucks nearby and it wasn’t too difficult to go to. But, looking back, I can see how perhaps we should have brought our own. Especially since the house had a regular coffee maker and a Keurig. That way, if some people wanted to sleep in or if some people wanted to be up early, they could just make their own or go out as they chose. Thinking it through more may have prevented a few caffeine headaches in our group - haha.
  

Make a Schedule and a Plan

This sounds simple, right? It’s a writing retreat! You go! You write! Have fun! But, it’s good to have somewhat of a plan going into the weekend so you can get into the right mindset. If you don’t, it’s easy to fall into just hanging out and socializing all weekend. This element is super important and you need that for sure! But… you also want to get some work done. Based on the two retreats we’ve now done, here is a sample schedule combining what we’ve done over the two different weekends:

Friday Afternoon/Evening

Goal: Arrive at AirBnB, Get to Know Each Other, Relax, Get into Writing Mode

• Everyone arrive at various times. Do meals on your own.

• Socialize/get to know each other/ice breakers

• Do writing prompts and sprints as wanted

Saturday

Goal: WRITE!

• Early morning: Each person gets up, make/get coffee/tea, get ready, do an early writing session as they want, wait for remaining people to arrive.

• 9am: Breakfast and Introductions

• 10am - 12pm: Writing Session

• 12pm: Lunch, socialize, and check in on progress

• 1pm - 3pm: Writing Session

• 3pm-5pm: Break/Socialize/Free Time

• 6pm: Dinner

• 7pm - 8pm: Writing Session

• 8pm: Break/Socialize/Free Time/Continue Writing in the rest of the night, everyone goes to bed at various times

Sunday Morning

Goal: Finish Any Writing Goals and Check Out

• Early morning: Each person gets up, make/get coffee/tea as they want, get ready, do an early morning writing session in as they want, etc.

• 9am: Breakfast and socialize

• 10am: Clean and pack up

• 11am: Check out

Obviously, you don’t have to stick to this schedule and this is SUPER basic and relaxed. Even for us, the times and activities varied. This is just a sample so you can get ideas of what you want to do.

The key is to know what your main goal of the weekend is. Is it to get to know other writers? To get your word count up? To learn more about craft and get feedback from one another? For us, we mainly wanted to get writing done and get to know each other, vs. forming critique groups and workshops. For your group, you might want something different.

What to Pack

Of course there’s the obvious things like clothes, toiletries, etc. But here’s a few other suggestions based on what I brought.

• Your laptop/computer/tablet - whatever it is you’re writing with! This should be pretty obvious, but it’s also the most important. How are you going to write and be productive without it?

• Extra chargers and extension cords. Both retreats we’ve stayed at a house, so I was confident that we’d have plenty of outlets. However, that didn’t mean we knew where those outlets were. If people were writing at the kitchen table and there wasn’t an outlet nearby and their laptop was getting low on batter, that’s a problem! Whenever you have people who are using multiple devices, it’s always good to have the spares just in case.

• A blanket and slippers/cozy socks. I debated back and forth on if I was going to bring a blanket with me and if I should even bring multiple this time around. I was so glad I brought both a regular throw and my electric blanket. The house we got was nice and had a thermostat - but it was also old and the windows got really drafty which makes it difficult to keep warm. I spent most of the weekend curled up under a blanket so I could warm up! Then, one of the house rules was we weren’t allowed to wear shoes inside. My toes would have frozen off if I didn’t have my slippers with me!

• Journal, pens, markers, pencils, planner, and other writing supplies. This should also be a given, but some people have all their notes and such on their computers or tablets. That’s the case for me and most of my outlines, ideas, and research. However, there’s something about regular old pen and paper that helps to get my mind going.

• Writing Activities, Prompts, and Ice Breakers. This helps with multiple things. One, if you don’t know everyone in the group, it’s a great way to introduce each other and set the tone for the weekend. Our first retreat, someone brought a book themed game that was similar to Apples to Apples or Cards Against Humanity and it was so fun! We really got to know one another and we stayed up far too late drinking wine and playing. This second retreat, one girl and I had arrived early and were sitting around hanging out but couldn’t get our minds switched into writing mode. We found a writing prompt, set a timer, then wrote. Once the time was up, we shared what we did. It had absolutely nothing to do with the projects we’d brought to work on for the weekend, but was such a great way to put ourselves into the writing mindset. Also, they were really fun.

• Your own paper plates, cups, utensils, etc. A lot of AirBnBs provide all of these things for you, and many also have a dishwasher. That’s awesome! Our group wanted to cut back on washing dishes as much as possible though because none of us felt like doing it and wanted to use that sort of time to socialize and write. Just be sure to bring an extra trash bag too though, just in case!

Overall, we had a really fun weekend. It’s great to be able to get to know other writers and work together.

Has anyone else gone on a writing retreat? Did you build your own, or did you join an already established one? What tips would you give to someone who’s planning one?

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Like what you read? Consider buying me a coffee.

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January Reading Round Up

From what I’ve been seeing around the Internet these days, everyone has been talking about how long January felt. Usually it feels like that for me too - but for some reason it flew by! Which is particularly weird considering Chicago just got out of some of the coldest days we’ve ever had in the history of ever.

Or at least how long they’ve been recording the temperatures.

My friends… it was COLD. But, we survived.

Oh… you’re not here to listen to me talk about the weather and how cold it was here? You want to know about the books I read this month? Well… that’s fair considering that’s the title of this blog post.

I read a total of 6 books in January and 4 of them counted towards the Beat the Backlist Challenge which was a great start! I enjoyed all of them for the most part which is even better.

Lady Midnight (The Dark Artifices #1) by Cassandra Clare

• Genre: YA Urban Fantasy

• Format: Library Hardcover

• Rating: 3.75 Stars

Quick Summary: Five years after the final Mortal Instruments book, Emma and her squad illegally investigate murders in LA which may lead to information about her own parents deaths.

First off, this trilogy is a spin off of the Mortal Instruments series. Previously with Cassandra Clare books, you could read The Mortal Instruments alone, or you could read The Infernal Devices alone, but you would get a better experience reading all of them. This is not the case with The Dark Artifices. You really need to have read both of the previous series to get everything that’s happening. That being said - I’m not going to attempt hiding any spoilers for the other two series. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

I’d been intending to read The Dark Artifices for awhile now, and while I do enjoy the Shadowhunter books, I’m not the fangirl of them that I used to be. I re-read most of the other two series a couple of years ago. The Infernal Devices are better, and I like The Mortal Instruments enough as long as I can just skip over the Jace chapters. I’d heard this trilogy got even better than the others. Her writing and inclusivity were better than they had been before and now that all three books are out, I figured it was high time I binged them.

This book took me forever to get into. I could see how I would like the new characters, but the first quarter of the book is basically just a bunch of name dropping for the previous books and GUSHING about how AMAZING JACE AND CLARY ARE. (Newsflash- they’re not that great. Literally all of the other characters are better than Jace and Clary.) The moment I’d start getting into the new characters and story, memories and mentions of the other books would get in the way. So much so, that I almost DNF’d this book.

Then, when I finally sat down to really read, and not just a few pages at a time, I was able to get into it. Yes, this book is still pretty typical Cassandra Clare. Forbidden romances, family drama, love triangles, SO MUCH ANGST, using the word parabatti WAY too much. (For people who make fun of Sarah J Maas for using “mate” too often, I make fun of Cassandra Clare for using parabatti too much.) But, I also expect this when I read her books. When I was able to push aside all of the throwbacks to previous books and characters, I was able to see why everyone liked this one so much. Mark is definitely one of the most interesting characters so far, and I do like Emma and Jullian a lot. The ending was a bit eye-rolly for me, and a bit heart breaking, but also not surprising. Basically… it was a Shadowhunter ending.

Compared to The Mortal Instruments, I would say this one is better quality, but I’m not sure if I like it more than The Infernal Devices yet. I have the next book waiting for me at the library so we’ll see how I feel once the trilogy is over!

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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter #7) by JK Rowling - Re-read

• Genre: YA Fantasy

• Format: Hardcover

• Rating: 5 Stars

Quick Summary: Harry has to defeat Voldemort!

In December I did a re-read of Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell which is basically about a girl who loves a made up version of Harry Potter which made me super in the mood for Harry Potter. I’d started re-reading the series maybe a year or two ago but for some reason stopped when I got to book seven. No time like the present, right?

I started re-reading it at the end of December and finished at the start of January and IT WAS WONDERFUL. Gosh, I forgot how good of a finale this was. I know some fans weren’t satisfied with the ending, but I totally was and that hasn’t changed. I love seeing Harry’s growth in this book and the journey he takes from “I’m doing this because Dumbledore told me to” to stepping up and taking it on as his own and growing as a leader. Then we also get Neville being a TOTAL BAD ASS (which the movie did a fine job with… but he’s so much more so in the book) and all of the heartbreaking moments still got to me and just… bravo. I love it.

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Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren

• Genre: Contemporary Romance

• Format: Library Paperback

• Rating: 4.5 Stars

Quick Summary: It’s been years since Hazel threw up on Josh’s shoes in college, but a friendship is ignited in a whirlwind and they decide to set each other up with friends and go on double dates together as an excuse to hang out.

This book was SO ADORABLE. I can’t even handle it. Hazel is a complete hot mess - and completely fabulous. While I don’t think I’m quite as eccentric as she is, I still totally related to her and the feeling of being “too much” for people. She’s the type of hot mess a person aspires to be. She’s hilarious, loves animals and kids, and always says inappropriate things at the total wrong time but you love her for it. Josh really was that “perfect” guy Hazel kept on describing him to be, while also feeling like a real character vs. just that “dream man” you get in romance novels sometimes. (Also Korean-American rep!)

When reading other reviews on Goodreads I saw some people weren’t fans of one of the plot lines later in the book. There were a couple which came to mind which could have been what they were referring to. Neither of them bothered me though. The book was slightly light on plot, but when it comes to romance I don’t mind that and just want to fall in love with the characters which totally happened!

Literally the only complaint I had is that there’s a plot point where people have sex while drunk and just… ugh. It seemed like they were sober enough to consent but… UGH. It bothered me enough though to bump it half a star. I can’t give a book that hinges on that plot point a full 5 stars and apparently this is a common thing with this writing duo. I’ll read more of their books, but I’ll also never be happy about this aspect of them.

It’s 2019 people! (And this book was published in 2018 so it’s not like it’s dated or anything.) Can we remove drunken sex from being an okay thing to move a relationship along????

But seriously. Beyond that I loved everything else about this book.

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Even If I Fall by Abigail Johnson

• Genre: YA Contemporary

• Format: Library Hardcover

• Rating: 4.5 Stars

Quick Summary: Brooke falls for the brother of the guy her brother confessed to murdering.

This was one of my most anticipated books of 2019! (Although in my blog post I described one of this author’s other books… whoops! Sorry!) I’d never read a book about the family of a convicted murderer and the concept sounded super fascinating to me! This book for sure filled my high expectations for it. I got super attached to the characters, it hit me in ALL THE FEELS, it was raw and real, and I got caught up in the whole figuring out what happened the night of the murder aspect.

That being said , this was also an incredibly difficult book to read. I mean… our main character’s brother is in prison for murder. Then she falls for the brother of the guy her brother killed. Basically, no one is happy in this book and you’re dealing with some really intense issues. When I first started I was only able to get through a couple of chapters at a time before having to put it down because any more than that would have left me emotionally drained. About the halfway mark (maybe 2/3rds) I was able to get into a better groove and then binge read the remainder of the book.

It’s so well done and a beautiful book. But be warned: it’s tough.

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Lord of Shadows (The Dark Artifices #2) by Cassandra Clare

• Genre: YA Urban Fantasy

• Format: Library Paperback

• Rating: 3.5 Stars

Quick Summary: Emma, Jullian, and the squad all deal with the aftermath of the first book. Angst, forbidden romance, and other Shadowhunting things ensue.

Then I came to this book. ::heavy sigh:: I won’t lie - once again I was tempted to DNF it after only a couple of chapters. There was just SO MUCH ANGST then Jace and Clary appeared RIGHT AWAY which made me roll my eyes so hard and just… ugh. Maybe it was because I’d just finished an intense book so I wasn’t ready for more angst? But this is such a different type of emotional and angst than If I Fall was and… it was rough.

All of the elements that I enjoy in books is in the Dark Artifices trilogy. I love forbidden romance, ALL OF THE FEELS, magic, adventure, squad goals, themes about family, etc. The ideas and characters for the Shadowhunter books are SO GOOD. But then I read it and the way they’re written I’m like “WHY AREN’T YOU BETTER?” I don’t know. Yet, I still love the characters and I keep coming back for more. My relationship with Cassandra Clare’s books is so complicated.

Anyway. I got through it. Lord of Shadows was weaker than Lady Midnight and while I didn’t mind the direction it was going and I liked all of the fae elements, it still wasn’t great. I think it could have been a lot shorter and there were elements which were dragged out that didn’t need to be dragged out.

The final book in this trilogy should be waiting for me to pick up at the library soon and I’ll push through and get this trilogy done! Woo!

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Alanna The First Adventure (Song of the Lioness #1) by Tamora Pierce

• Genre: Middle Grade (maybe younger YA) Fantasy

• Format: Paperback

• Rating: 4 Stars

Quick Summary: 10 year old Alanna doesn’t want to go to the convent. Her twin brother doesn’t want to be a knight. What’s a kid to do? Swap places of course.

I feel like I’m one of the last people to read Tamora Pierce’s books. So many people grew up with them and she’s a staple for YA Fantasy. I even remember seeing her books at the store when I was in high school and always intended to read them, but never did. So - I finally read one!

This is one of those books that now I’m like “man… I should have read this when I was 14 (or younger).” You know… the age it’s intended to be read at. Alanna is a great heroine: disguising herself Mulan style to become a knight, challenging her bullies, growing stronger, taking care of herself, etc. When this book was published in the ‘80s, I can imagine it was pretty ground breaking. Back then (and to a lot of an extent, today) the science-fiction and fantasy genres was a boys club. A book featuring a young girl training to be a knight, talking about getting her first period, discussing birth control, and her not shying away from violence, I’m imagining was not something which happened often. Especially for such a young age group. This book paved the way for the girl power YA fantasy novels we have today. If I read this in jr. high or high school before all of the YA fantasy we have now, I would have been ALL ABOUT IT.

But I didn’t read it back then and I have read the other YA fantasy novels we have now. In comparison, it wasn’t as good. Also, this was much more middle grade than YA. (But I’m pretty sure the books age up as the character gets older.) For my personal enjoyment, this book was more like 3.5 stars because it wasn’t as good as others I’ve read in this genre. But, I still really liked the premise and the short fast and fun read was welcome after If I Fall and Lord of Shadows. Also considering how ground breaking it was back when it was published, I bumped it up to 4 stars.

I’ll check out the rest of the series from the library and I can definitely see myself passing this book onto my niece and/or my cousins kids to read so they can read it at the appropriate age.

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Currently Reading

Lethal White (Cormoran Strike #4) by Robert Galbraith (AKA JK Rowling)

• Genre: Adult Mystery/Thriller

• Format: Library Audiobook

Quick Summary: Let’s be real… those of us reading Lethal White aren’t here for the plot. We’re here to see what happens between Strike and Robin. But if you are interested- basically it’s political intrigue, murder, blackmail, the Olympics when it was in London, and parliament.

I started to read this book last year when it came out, but after the prologue and I found out what happened in the aftermath of the previous book, it felt so slow so I put it down temporarily. I’d read two of the others via audiobook and really enjoyed them, so I decided to give that a try.

So far, it is SO MUCH BETTER. However, I wasn’t able to finish the book before it was due back at the library and it wouldn’t let me renew it so… I’m back on the wait list.

::heavy sigh::

Tune in several months from now when I can check out the audiobook again and can finally finish this bad boy. We’ll see if I attempt to read the physical book again.

What did you all read in January? Anything I should check out? Have you read any of these books? What were your thoughts?

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Like what you read? Consider buying me a coffee.

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Beat the Backlist 2019

Beat the Backlist 2019

There’s a constant joke about avid readers and how our “to be read” pile is never ending. Or how they have a million unread books on their shelves and yet they can’t resist going into a bookstore or a library to pick up even more.

I am absolutely not exempt from this joke. In fact, there are days I wonder if it was inspired by me and my life because the amount of books I have sitting at home, and on my Kindle, is not only full - but it’s getting to be embarrassing. I have over 20 unread physical books that I own then on my Kindle… well… let’s say it’s in the 3-digits.

I told you it was embarrassing.

Particularly with ebooks it’s just so easy! You see one that’s only $.99 and you’re all “I’d be a fool to not get it! Only a dollar!” Then before you know it you have a huge list of unread books sitting there untouched. It’s so bad, my friends. SO BAD.

Then when Barnes and Noble sends you coupons all of the time…

I know.

It’s no excuse.

I have a serious, serious, problem, and I’m sorry.

A friend of mine decided she wanted to have all of the books she owned to be read by the time she turned 30. Her birthday is coming up and it’s kind of incredible how far she’s gotten. While it’s been stressful, I’m also slightly envious that in a couple of weeks she’ll no longer have a backlist of books sitting around the house.

Then, a couple months ago, another friend of mine told me about Beat the Baklist hosted by NovelKnight. (You can read all of the details by clicking here!) Apparently, this book blogger/Bookstagramer hosts this challenge every year and people use it to get through all of the books which have been published in previous years that they haven’t gotten to yet. It could be books that they own that they haven’t read yet (like me) or simply books they’ve been meaning to pick up but haven’t gotten around to it.

The only rule is that your books need to be published before the current year. (So for 2019, all of the books for the challenge need to be from 2018 or prior.)

People (like my friend) do their own challenges like this all of the time. But, there’s something about a more organized challenge like this one which helps me with the whole accountability thing. You can sign up, join a Hogwarts House if you want, join in on the Instagram challenge, and even fill out Bingo cards! (All of this is optional of course. Again - you can check out the details on her website here!) It seems like an answer to my problem!

To officially sign up, you need to have somewhere on the Internet your TBR for the Beat the Backlist Challenge then share it on the links provided on her blog. (In case you missed it before… click here!) This TBR doesn’t have to be the one you’ll ABSOLUTELY STICK TO NO MATTER WHAT. Just something to get started. You also can post it anywhere on social media. I just chose my blog because it’s my “main hub.”

My main focus is going to be my physical books. Yes, I’ll absolutely be reading the ones on my Kindle as well, but since that list is so overwhelming, I think I’ll feel much more of a sense of accomplishment with my physical TBR.

I don’t know if I’ll be able to get through all of them, but I’m going to try as much as I can! If I can read at leas 2-3 of them a month all year, I’ll be in good shape.

So… without much further ado, here’s at least part of my TBR for Beat the Backlist! (If you want to see all of them, you can check out my shelves on Goodreads.)

Consider this the official book-shaming of me.

Rose Under Fire (Verity #2) by Elizabeth Wein

• Genre: YA Historical

• Published: 2014

• Format: Paperback

This is most likely the book that has been sitting on my shelf the longest and I have zero excuses for not having read it yet. It’s WW2 which is one of my favorite time periods, it’s all girl power, and I loved Code Name Verity . I picked this book up not long after I finished it…. around when it was published… almost 5 years ago.

I know. I know.

It’s A REALLY BAD PROBLEM I TOLD YOU.

I think what’s been stopping me is that the first book made me cry a lot and had ALL THE FEELS and I’ve been told this one is even worse. But… you’d think after five years I’d be prepared for it by now.

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Alana: The First Adventure (Song of the Lioness #1) by Tamora Pierce

• Genre: YA/MG Fantasy

• Published: 2010

• Format: Paperback

I’m fairly sure I’m one of the last people ever to read this series. So many people love Tamora Pierce and I haven’t read a single one of her books. NONE of them. I can almost feel every single one of her fans groaning and judging me right now. I’M SORRY. This book was given to me a couple of years ago by a fellow Booktuber and I was so excited because I finally had no reason to not read it!

Did that happen?

Nope.

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Six Gun Snow White by Cathrynne M Valente

• Genre: Adult Historical Fantasy

• Published: 2013

• Format: Paperback

I won this book a couple of years ago in a giveaway through Booktube and I was so happy! It’s a Snow White retelling! Look at that beautiful woman of color on the cover! It’s short! It looks like a unique take on the classic fairy tale! It looks amazing!

And yet… here it is.

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Scarlet (Scarlet #1) By AC Gaughen

• Genre: YA Historical Fantasy

• Published: 2012

• Format: Paperback

This was another book I got as a gift, I want to say a year ago now. It’s a Robin Hood retelling about a girl in his band of merry men who happens to be posing as a guy.

Sounds amazing, right?

I need to get on it.

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This Darkness Mine by Mindy McGinnis

• Genre: YA Thriller

• Published: 2017

• Format: Hardcover

Yet another gift… and I love Mindy McGinnis! This book was on my wish list! I knew I wanted to read it! When I got it as a gift in the mail I was SO HAPPY!

Then it sat on my shelf for months.

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The Outlaw Knight (FitzWaren #2) by Elizabeth Chadwick

• Genre: Adult Historical

• Published: 2013

• Format: Paperback

Elizabeth Chadwick is one of my favorite authors! Every single one of her books I’ve read so far I’ve completely loved. The first book in this duology was fantastic. Naturally, I picked up the next one.

I guess I just haven’t been in the mood for a more dense historical fiction? Who. Even. Knows.

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Muse of Nightmares (Strange the Dreamer #2) by Laini Taylor

• Genre: YA Fantasy

• Published: 2018

• Format: Hardcover

Now, this one isn’t quite so embarrassing in the sense that it was was released back in October of 2018. Only three months ago!

However… this was one of my most anticipated of 2018. Strange the Dreamer was one of my FAVORITE books last year. It was AMAZING and the way it ended I needed the next one immediately! I went out to the store the day it was released and almost had a heart attack when they said my pre-order hadn’t arrived yet! When it did arrive it was one of the happiest days!

It’s just… so many books came out in October my friends. SO MANY. I couldn’t keep up with all of the new releases and this one for some reason just fell to the side and just…

I’m sorry.

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The Ghost Rebellion (The Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences #5) by Pip Ballentine and Tee Morris

• Genre: Adult Steampunk

• Published: 2016

• Format: ARC

I really love this opposites attract fun steampunk series. It’s witty and charming and funny and full of adventure! When the authors switched to self-publishing I signed up to donate to them so they could complete the series and in exchange I got an ARC for the next book.

Well… the book after this (which is the final one) was already released and I have a copy of that one too. But have I read this ARC? NOPE.

This is why I don’t request ARCs often.

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Renegades (Renegades #1) by Marissa Meyer

• Genre: YA Sci-Fi

• Published: 2017

• Format: Hardcover

I picked up this book at the start of last year because I LOVE LOVE LOVE The Lunar Chronicles by this author, and I enjoyed Heartless by her as well. But then… I don’t know. It never called to me since then and has been collecting dust.

Your time is coming, Renegades!

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Six of Crows (Six of Crows #1) by Leigh Bardugo

• Genre: YA Fantasy

• Published: 2015

• Format: ebook

I know. I know. I know. I’m WAY LATE to the party on this one. I was to reading The Grisha Trilogy too. I read The Grisha Trilogy last year and it was good. I enjoyed it. But I also wasn’t all OMG BEST BOOKS EVER the way other people were. So, I’ve been dragging my feet with Six of Crows. I know I’ll read it and probably enjoy it. Everyone says it’s even better than The Grisha Trilogy but just… sigh. At this point I feel like it’s been hyped up SO MUCH that there’s no way it’s going to live up to it and I’m just going to have the same reaction I did with the others. It’s good, but not amazing.

But, it was on sale a few months ago for Kindle and I decided to just download it so I had less of an excuse to not read it. I know I said I was going to focus on my physical TBR, but since this one is SO POPULAR and one I know I should get to and Netflix now is making these books a movie or a TV show or whatever… I decided I need to get it done this year.

Okay… enough humiliation for one blog post, don’t you think? This is only the tip of the iceberg though!

I have finished one book so far. It wasn’t one I’d purchased and kept forever, but I had been meaning to start which is Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare. It’s the first book in her Dark Artifices trilogy and the final book came out at the end of 2018. I thought it was a good time to just binge the whole thing.

Then, I’ve started the audiobook for Lethal White, the fourth book in the Cormoran Strike series by Robert Galbraith (JK Rowling). I bought the book last year and I started it, but it went so slow. I’d read two of the others in the series via audio book so I thought I’d give it a shot. So far, it’s much better!

So… at least I’ve made a little progress?

Please bring me some comfort and tell me your backlist is as long as mine! What embarrassing stories do you have to tell about books which have been sitting on your shelves or your e-reader for far longer than any book should? Are you joining the Beat the Backlist Challenge too? Again… in case you missed it… click here for info!

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Like what you read? Consider buying me a coffee.

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If you enjoyed this post you might also enjoy…

My 18 Favorite Books of 2018

2018 Year in Review & 2019 Goals

My Most Anticipated Books of 2019

My 18 Favorite Books of 2018

I read 100 books in 2018!

Which amounted to 38,099 pages. The average length of book I read this year was between 300-399 pages.

While it’s not the most amount of books I’ve read in a year… it’s still a lot.

The genres were…

35.2% fantasy

26.7% romance

12.4% contemporary

8.6% urban fantasy

7.6% science fiction

6.7% historical fiction

1.9% graphic novels

As for age groups…

51.4% adult

26.7% young adult

19.0% new adult

2.9% middle grade

But you all don’t care about my nerdy numbers do you? Fine… fine… we’ll get to my favorites of the year.

All in all, I enjoyed a vast majority of what I read. I’ve been able to figure out pretty easily which I’ll enjoy, so it’s rare when I find a book I hate. Let alone, one that I hate and will finish. (Life is too short to read books you don’t like. Aren’t liking a book? Just stop reading and find one you do!) Which is great! But… it does make it difficult to narrow down which ones were my absolute favorite.

Here’s the list I came up with. They’re in no particular order, just what popped up on Goodreads as I looked through to see which ones I’d rated the highest.

If you ask me, it’s a good variety of books. You’ve got a mix of adult, new adult, and young adult, sci-fi, fantasy, contemporary, romance, historical… it’s all there! I tried to see if there were any similar threads, genres, or plot lines, but there weren’t really. At first I thought that they all maybe had a great romance even if it was a side plot, but even that wasn’t a commonality!

What I did notice was, they all have fantastic characters. Ones that I am fascinated by, root for, or connect to. You could have a fairly predictable plot, but if the characters are ones who stand out and I connect with, I’ll be wanting even more!

The other commonality was that every single book was written by a woman except for one - where it was co-written by a male author and a female author. I have noticed this tends to be a trend with me the last few years. It wasn’t intentional, but the more I notice it, the more I’m actively seeking out female authors. One, because apparently I’m drawn to their writing. Two, particularly in Sci-Fi/Fantasy (adult mostly), it’s still a bit of a boys club. Women for sure are staking their claim and leaving their mark, but as I search for high/epic fantasy, a majority of the books are written by men. I want to let the women shine!

Also - as you’ll notice, I am much more into romance this last year than I have been in previous years, and that genre is mostly written by women.

Men, you need to step up your game. Sorry, not sorry.

I also want to point out how many debut authors I loved in 2018. I made a note of each of them and WOW did they kill it!

So, here you go. My favorites of 2018 in no particular order!

* = own voices

*Trail of Lightning (The Sixth World #1) by Rebecca Roanhorse (Debut author)

Genre: Adult Urban Fantasy

Quick Summary: Monster hunter Maggie travels through the rez to investigate mysterious disappearances and discovers something more evil and powerful than she originally thought.

I love the urban fantasy genre, and there’s a part of me that so sad it’s not really in the market right now. Unless it’s this amazing book that is!

This book was super intense right from the start - so not for the feint of heart! Maggie was such a fantastic and bad ass heroine though, Kai was swoony and loveable and amazing, and having all of the Native American lore/setting/themes was such a refreshing take on this genre. The characters were ripping my heart out in the best way, and the end has me BEGGING for the next book.

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*Children of Blood and Bone (Legacy of Orisha #1) by Tomi Adeyemi (Debut author)

Genre: Young Adult Epic Fantasy

Quick Summary: Zeile goes on a quest to bring magic back to her land and rebel against the monarchy.

This book was one of the most hyped for YA fantasy in 2018 and it definitely lived up. It is Adeyemi’s debut, was sold for 7 figures AND already has a movie deal.

Oh. And she’s only 24.

So… that slightly puts your life into perspective, doesn’t it? Haha.

But seriously. This was a phenomenal young adult epic fantasy. Think of it as The Hate U Give - but in fantasy with Black Panther vibes. The characters are vivid and complex, and you have your classic fantasy staples of revolution and freeing magic. You all need to hop on board this train before the next book is released in 2019!

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*Song of Blood and Stone (Earthsinger Chronicles #1) by L Penelope (Debut in traditional publishing)

Genre: Adult Fantasy Romance

Quick Summary: After soldier Jack is held captive in Jasminda’s home by mutual enemies, they team together to save Elsira.

I buddy-read this with my friend Caitlin of BookChats and we immediately became obsessed! This is a debut book -but only for the traditionally published realm. L. Penelope originally self-published this book then it got picked up by a publisher and after a lot of editing and revising, it was released in this form. So, if you read the original, I’ve been told this one is much different and her readers should give it a try!

It’s another black lives matters type of a book set in a fantasy world - but this time it’s for adults and there’s more focus on the romance. Which I LOVED. I was completely on board for Jasminda and Jack from the start and I loved this world and concept. I only wish we had a release date for the second book!

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Illuminae (The Illuminae Files #1) by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufmann

Genre: Young Adult Sci-Fi

Quick Summary: The morning Ezra and Katy break up, their planet is invaded and they find themselves on two different spaceships in a race to reach safety before the invaders strike again.

I’ve had this book sitting on my shelf for over a year, and the ebook version on my kindle for even longer. I knew I would like it, but I also knew I would need to be in the right mindset and have the right focus for it due to the multi-media format. I’m so glad I waited until I knew I had that focus because it was wonderful!

The multi-media format was surprisingly compelling. I was worried it would make me feel removed from the story and the characters, but it didn’t at all. There were some surprisingly dark twists which brought even more to the book, and I was completely hooked!

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*Relationship Goals by Christina C Jones

Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance Novella

Quick Summary: After a spontaneous kiss at an airport, Nick and Noah discover something deeper.

This one took me by surprise! Usually when books try to incorporate social media and technology into their story, it feels clunky and forced. The way Jones did it was spot on! Their kiss goes viral and they start to chat via Instagram messages and it all goes from there. Then, our hero has sickle cell disease, and it was handled so well. I was able to connect with so much about his thoughts on living with the disease and her learning to deal with it at his side. Their relationship felt so real and I loved how they actually talked through things. Definitely a great quick read!

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Tessa Ever After (Reluctant Hearts #2) by Brighton Walsh

Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance

Quick Summary: Jason promised his BFF to watch after his sister and niece after he moves away. What he didn’t expect was to fall in love.

This was another pleasant surprise. I read the first book, Caged in Winter, and enjoyed it but wasn’t OMG BEST BOOK EVER. Then when I heard Jason was our hero in book two, I was skeptical.

BUT JASON IS OUR HERO AND GOODNESS WAS I WRONG ABOUT HIM.

Seeing him grow and change through the story was fantastic, and how can you not love a guy who’ll dress up and play tea party with the daughter of his heart’s desire? I mean… seriously. Then Tessa was an awesome heroine and seeing her open up and start to relax around Jason was wonderful to watch.

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*An Extraordinary Union (The Loyal League #1) by Alyssa Cole

Genre: Adult Historical Romance

Quick Summary: A spy for the Union, Elle poses as a slave on a plantation to gather information has to team up with Scotsman Malcom to uncover a plot which could turn the tide of the Civil War.

I have finally jumped on the Alyssa Cole train and I’m so glad I did! I’d heard about this author and this book in particular. It was another that for sure lived up to the hype! I love classic historical romance novels along with everyone else. But, it was refreshing to have one that wasn’t filled with balls and carriage rides, and instead was focused on spies for the Civil War. On top of all of that, we have a Scottish hero who reminded me of Jamie Fraser but without the problematic elements of Outlander.

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A Night to Surrender (Spindle Cove #1) by Tessa Dare

Genre: Adult Historical Romance

Quick Summary: Susanna spends her life helping women find their inner strength. Then, a new earl comes into town to form a militia and she must stop him from ruining her utopia.

Another romance author who I’ve finally jumped on the train for! This book literally had me laughing out loud with it’s battle of the sexes theme. It’s ridiculous, funny, and completely swoon worthy. Then, our hero had a disability due to a war injury which is always great to see that representation which didn’t make me want to roll my eyes! Everything about it was great and I literally had zero complaints. I need to read all of Tessa Dare’s books now.

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*The Poppy War (The Poppy War #1) by RF Kuang (Debut author)

Genre: Adult Epic Fantasy

Quick Summary: Against all odds, Rin earns a place at the elite military school in Nikan and discovers unearthly power.

Another book which was so hyped up and it totally lived up to it! Part of what makes this book stand out so much is that the school element is only the first half because the students in the second half are thrown into a war they’re not prepared for.

It’s intense, heavy, and full of inspiration from Chinese history. There are moments when it’s difficult to read because of that, but trust me it’s 100% worth it.

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The Queen’s Rising (The Queen’s Rising #1) by Rebecca Ross (Debut author)

Genre: Young Adult High Fantasy

Quick Summary: When Valenia is not chosen by a patron at her 17th solstice, she waits for months for someone to take her on. Then, she is found in the midst of a rebellion and must decide her loyalty.

This book was on my radar but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to read it nor not. Then, a friend messaged me and was like “YOU HAVE TO READ THIS BOOK” so I picked it up from the library. Well… she was right.

At first you think it’s going to be a pretty cliche/typical YA fantasy. There’s magic, the characters go to a boarding school, we have a lost queen/princess, the main character is an orphan, etc. But, all of these tropes still feel fresh and new as you read. I loved these characters and the themes of found family and identity. This book could definitely be a stand alone, but there are more coming and I can’t wait!

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Dreamer’s Pool (Blackthorn and Grim #1) by Juliet Mariller

Genre: Adult Historical Fantasy

Quick Summary: Healer Blackthorn has been held in prison for years and will do anything to get her revenge. But when a fae offers her the opportunity for her freedom and in exchange she must help anyone, she must set aside her own goals. At least for the next seven years.

This was a lovely subtle historical fantasy. Blackthorn is a fierce heroine and it was refreshing to have a character who is so bent on revenge being forced to take a step back from it. I love a good dark fantasy along with everyone else. But, having a book where they’re not just ripping apart bodies the whole time was nice to have for a change. Grimm is my precious but also frightening baby that I want to protect from all of the dangers of the world. The prince and his love interest… I’ll be honest were kind of meh. But everything else in the book made up for it!

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*New Heights by Quinn Anderson

Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance Novella (M/M relationship)

Quick Summary: While stuck at the airport, Mika and James start a feud, but can’t deny their opposites attract connection.

These novellas for sure show that you don’t need a book to be long to be well done!

I read this in the course of just a couple of hours and it was the most delightful couple of hours ever. I loved the opposites attract chemistry and all of their shenanigans around the airport while they were waiting for their delayed flights. The couple was so cute and perfect for each other, I was shipping them from the first paragraph.

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The Calculating Stars (Lady Astronaut #1) by Mary Robinette Kowal

Genre: Adult Historical Sci-Fi

Quick Summary: When a meteorite hits the US’s East Coast post WWII and wipes out part of the country, the space race is on so people can colonize Mars, and Elma wants to be on that rocket.

I AM SO OBSESSED WITH THIS BOOK.

Mary Robinette Kowal is one of the hosts on the Writing Excuses podcast and she’s one of my favorites. I’ve started her Glamourist Histories series which is a fun magical regency England setting. But this one - WOW. I’m not one for sci-fi usually, but it was so well done. I am completely in love with Elma and her husband Nathaniel (The ultimate relationship goals for real. Nathaniel has raised the bar for all men everywhere and I will never settle for less than him now that I’ve read this book.), it has this great Hidden Figures feel, is basically a handbook for how white authors should handle their privilege, and of course - SPACE.

I mean… freaking real life astronauts helped her write the book and have reviewed it saying how great it is. I read the sequel and the original novelette which inspired the whole series as well and all three are excellent. I’ve heard she’s signed to write more of these books and I cannot wait.

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If I Fix You by Abigail Johnson

Genre: Young Adult Contemporary

Quick Summary: Jill is the only one who knows the reason her mom walked out on them. Now, months later, she tries to pick up the pieces.

I’d listened to an interview with this author on the Writer Writer Pants on Fire podcast by Mindy McGinnis and I loved her! She has a new book coming out in 2019 that I found the most interesting but decided to check out her debut to see if I liked her writing style. Also, the author is a wheelchair user and I wanted to support her!

This book was such a pleasant surprise! It’s pretty dramatic, but not so much in a way where you feel drained either. Jill is a teen mechanic, which was awesome! She has a great relationship with her dad, and while there is technically a “love triangle” it’s definitely a different twist on it. So, don’t let that scare you away if you typically don’t like that trope.

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Vengeful (Villains #2) by VE Schwab

Genre: Adult Sci-Fi

Quick Summary: Five years after Vicious, a new EO wants to take over the city of Merit.

This is the highly anticipated sequel to the first book, Vicious which made my favorites list a few years ago. I wasn’t sure what to expect out of the sequel, but it was amazing! She introduced awesome new characters and you dug even deeper into the ones we already know. It is more character driven than action, which is a preference of mine. The story keeps moving so you’re not bored, but it’s also not “ACTION SCENES ALL THE TIME!” either. If you want a book to study writing and characterization craft, pick this up.

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Kingdom of Ash (Throne of Glass #7) by Sarah J Maas

Genre: New Adult Epic Fantasy

Quick Summary: It’s the final battles for the freedom of Terrasen.

OMG I STILL CAN’T BELIEVE THE THRONE OF GLASS SERIES IS OVER.

I can’t go into too much detail because if I did I’d spoil THE WHOLE SERIES for you. But believe me when I say, this was a fantastic conclusion. I cried for basically all 900 pages, yet still felt so satisfied at the end. Which, that’s really hard to do when you’re wrapping up a 7 book series.

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How the Dukes Stole Christmas by Tessa Dare, Sarah MacLean, Sophie Jordan, and Joanna Shupe

Genre: Adult Historical Romance

Quick Summary: Four popular historical romance authors share novellas inspired by classic holiday stories all featuring dukes and terrible shortbread.

THIS BOOK WAS SO DELIGHTFUL. I knew I would probably enjoy it because with those authors and that title and that premise? How could I not? But seriously, I loved it way more than I thought I would. The first three novellas were the best, but the last one was also great. (I can’t figure out which holiday story it’s inspired by! If anyone knows, please tell me.) Each one is fast, fun, sexy, and festive. I’ll for sure be adding it to my pile of books to revisit for future Decembers.

*Empire of Sand (The Books of Ambha #1) by Tasha Suri (Debut Author)

Genre: New Adult Fantasy

Quick Summary: Mehr is the illegitimate daughter of a governor with magic in her blood and her powers become noticed by the Emperor’s most feared mystics.

This was the last new release I read in 2018 and it was SO GOOD. I have to say, the fantasy debut authors this year really killed it. They were all fantastic and this was no exception.

I wasn’t sure what to expect going into it because the back of the book doesn’t have a very detailed description. Don’t let that deter you from reading it though because it’s so good! With the dagger on the front, you expect it to be super dark and violent, but it’s not. There definitely dark and violent moments, but it’s much more character driven than you’d think. I loved the India-inspired religion, magic, and setting, but the characters truly were the best. I need more of them in my life!

What do you think of my list? Did you read any of these? Any that you want to check out in the future? What were your favorites of 2018?

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Like what you read? Consider buying me a coffee.

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December Reading Round Up

It’s a bit late, but I’m talking about all of the books I read in December. I hope you still have some holiday spirit in you because there’s A LOT of holiday books in here!

Ben’s Bakery and the Hanukkah Miracle by Penelope Peters

• Genre: Contemporary Romance (M/M relationship)

• Format: ebook

• Rating: 4 stars

Quick Summary: Former hockey star and perfect Jewish son, Adam, takes his pee-wee hockey team to Boston for a tourney and meets Ben who owns a “Kosher-Style” bakery.

Well, this was completely adorable and a fast read! (Less than 300 pages, read it in one day.) It was a last minute download and I chose it as my “warm and fuzzy” book for the ‘Tis-the-Season-a-Thon. Which was completely perfect because between the adorable romance, the match-making middle school hockey players, and ALL OF THE BAKED GOODS (Seriously, you’ll get super hungry reading this book. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.) this was absolutely a great warm and fuzzy read.

It’s also an own voices book about Hanukkah which was awesome!

You’ll like this book if you also enjoy: m/m romance, contemporary romance, hockey, bakeries, own voices, Hanukkah, flings turned into relationship, father-son relationships, duty vs. heart trope

Content Warnings: flashbacks to an injury, references to a past car crash

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Snow in Love by Kasie West, Aimee Friedman, Melissa de la Cruz, and Nic Stone

• Genre: YA Romance Anthology

• Format: Library Paperback

• Rating: 3.5 Stars

Quick Summary: Four YA romance novellas by popular authors which take place during the holiday season.

This was the pick for the ‘Tis-the-Season-a-Thon as the group read, and it came in from my library the day the read a thon started so it was perfect timing!

It’s a really quick read - less than 300 pages! I finished it in one day and it was fun. The first two stories by Kasie West and Aimee Friedman were my favorites though. All four were pretty predictable, but still cute. I’m glad I read it, but I don’t think this will be an anthology I’ll return to year after year like some others I’ve read. I’m all for predictable/cheesy holiday stories, but they didn’t have quite the creative edge I’ve seen in some other books.

You’ll Like this Book If you Also Enjoy: Hallmark movies, the book My True Love Gave to Me, short stories/novellas, road trips, terrible holiday jobs, childhood sweethearts, coming out stories, stuck in an airport

Content Warnings: References/discussion of racism

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How the Dukes Stole Christmas by Tessa Dare, Sarah MacLean, Sophie Jordan, and Joanna Shupe

• Genre: Adult Historical Romance Anthology

• Format: ebook

• Rating: 5 stars

Quick Summary: Four popular historical romance authors share holiday novellas. All featuring a duke and inspired by a classic Christmas story.

This was the book I read for the ‘Tis-the-Season-a-Thon challenge of “a book with red or green on the cover.”

The first novella by Tessa Dare was completely perfect - which I predicted. I’d only read one Tessa Dare book before this one but I loved it so much that I had complete confidence this would be no different. Inspired by Meet Me in St. Louis (one of my faves!) and full of her classic humor, wit, and feminism with a dash of swoon.

The second novella was by Sarah MacLean and oof it was definitely a change from Dare’s story! It was inspired by A Christmas Carol and OH GOODNESS THE FEELS AND THE ANGST. But I still loved it.

The third novella was by Sohpie Jordan and a take on Home Alone. So much fun! And definitely the steamiest out of the four stories.

The fourth one by Joanna Shupe I cannot for the life of me figure out what classic holiday story it’s inspired by! If anyone knows, please tell me. In spite of that, it was still cute. I didn’t like it as much as the other three, but not enough to bring it down in my rating.

Are these stories realistic? Probably not. Are they super historically accurate? Probably not. Do I care? Nope. Overall - this was wonderful and I’ll be adding it to my pile of holiday books to return to in Decembers to come.

You’ll like this book if you also enjoy: historical holiday romance, novellas, anthologies, anything by any of these authors, snowed in trope, hidden identity trope, dukes, classic holiday stories and retellings

Content Warnings: none that come to mind

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Frozen by LA Casey

• Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance

• Format: ebook

• Rating: 3 stars

Quick Summary: Neala and Darcy have been enemies from childhood and the tension reaches it’s peak when they’re vying for the same doll they want to give to their niece and nephew.

This was my pick for “holiday themed” challenge for the ‘Tis the season a thon. Which… all of my books were holiday themed so take that as you will.

The concept of this book was great. It was like the movie Jingle All the Way but set in Ireland and with romance. Besides, a good hate-to-love story is always fun. I also really liked how the book is called Frozen and the doll they are trying to get for the kids is from a fictional animated movie called Blaze about a princess who can make fire.

The execution was good, but not my favorite. I liked the shenanigans and tension, but didn’t really fall for and get invested in the characters the way I normally would.

You’ll like this book if you also enjoy: enemies to lovers, childhood friends, big families

Content warnings: reference to past sexual assault

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Once Upon a Winters Eve (Spindle Cove 1.5) by Tessa Dare

• Genre: Adult Historical Romance

• Format: ebook

• Rating: 5 stars

Quick Summary: On the night of the Spindle Cove Christmas Ball, and the day before Violet is to return home to find a husband, a mysterious stranger crashes the party and goes right to Violet.

It’s Tessa Dare… of course I loved this book. I’ve now read one of her novels and two novellas and all three have been five stars.

I was hooked and drawn into Violet’s character right away, I loved figuring out the mystery of the mysterious man, and seeing our original couple from the first book in the Spindle Cove series was wonderful.

I’ll probably end up binge reading the remainder of the Spindle Cove series once we get into the new year.

You’ll like this book if you also enjoy: mystery, historical romance, whirlwind one night stories, scorned lovers, forbidden/secret lovers, feminist romance

Content warnings: our hero has some injuries and references to past torture

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A Christmas Brothel by Ava Stone, Kate Pearce, Jane Charles, Virginia Heath, Deb Marlowe, KC Bateman, Elizabeth Essex, Amanda Mariel, and more

• Genre: Adult Historical Short Story Anthology

• Format: ebook

• Rating: Did not finish

Quick Summary: It’s Christmas Eve in Canterbury when a sudden snow storm hits and the only place in town that has room is the local brothel.

This book was… not what I expected. Honestly, this should have just taken place at an inn. Save for a few references to the madame and seeing one of her girls here and there, and on occasion we’d have a character blush at where they needed to spend the night, this set of short stories could have taken place anywhere. Changing those details wouldn’t have changed anything in the stories.

I mean, it takes place in a brothel, and yet it was the cleanest most wholesome thing I read all month. Which is fine - just not what I expected. There wasn’t even a fun Pretty Woman scenario or anything! Maybe if I had known this going into it, I would have enjoyed this book more. It’s like you go into your fridge and see something labeled as “milk” but when you drink it, it’s actually orange juice. There’s nothing wrong with orange juice. Orange juice is great! But when you’re expecting milk, it’s not a great experience.

And the stories were too short for my taste. They just didn’t go deep enough for me to really enjoy them.

It was fun to see some of the stories overlapping though and I love the concept. Maybe I’ll try it again later.

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Empire of Sand (The Books of Ambha #1) by Tasha Suri

• Genre: Adult Fantasy

• Format: Library Paperback

• Rating: 5 Stars

Quick Summary: Mehr is the illegitimate daughter of a governor with magic in her blood and her powers become noticed by the Emperor’s most feared mystics.

OH GOODNESS THIS BOOK WAS SO GOOD. It was the only book I read this month which wasn’t holiday focused or a re-read because I’d gotten it from the library and needed to return it. I’m so glad I read it though!

Even the back of the book description doesn’t do it justice because there’s so much more to it than just magic blood. I loved the setting and the magic system and the way religion was used. This looks like it’s going to be action packed and violent, and parts of it are. But the best part was the characters. I COMPLETELY fell in love with them. They made me swoon and cry and I need more of them in my life. It was a bit more of a slower/quieter fantasy, but still compelling.

You’ll Like This Book if You Also Enjoy: Folklore/inspiration from India, slow burn romance, arranged marriage, “chosen one” fantasy trope, use of religion, family focus

Content Warnings: violence, death, parental abandonment, references to torture

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Chasing Christmas Eve (Heartbreaker Bay #4) by Jill Shavis

• Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance

• Format: ebook

• Rating: 4 Stars

Quick Summary: Colbie is a best-selling YA author on the brink of burn out and runs away to San Francisco where no one can reach her or knows her pen name when she runs into sexy-nerd business man Spencer.

This was so cute and swoony! I loved how our heroine was a YA author battling writers block, and Spencer was such a great hero who was this awesome nerdy guy. Although, I think she totally should have fired her agent cause… NOPE. He was the actual worst ever and I thought back to the different publishing podcasts I’ve listened to and I’m pretty sure all of them would have been like “FIND A NEW AGENT.”

This book is great if you want a Christmas but not Christmas read. It takes place in December and it talks about Christmas, but it’s definitely not about the holiday either. I could easily see it taking place at another time of year if needed, but having the holiday backdrop was a nice perk.

Reading it also made me curious about the other books in the series as well, especially since I read one of the novellas last Christmas, so I’ll be on the look out for book 1.

You’ll Like This Book If You Also Enjoy: flings turned to relationship, nerdy heroes, wealthy heroes, close friend groups, San Francisco, Holiday Books

Content Warnings: messed up families, homelessness, financial struggles, agents behaving VERY badly

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Love Rekindled at Christmas by Eveylen Issacs, Elizabeth Kysian, Diana Lloyd, Eve Pendle, and E. Elizabeth Watson

• Genre: Adult Historical Romance Anthology

• Format: ebook

• Rating: 3 stars

Quick Summary: A series of regency romances about those who fell in love then were separated only to be reunited again at Christmas.

The first novella was… not great. So much so that I considered DNFing the entire book because while they were all different authors, I wondered if it was a sign of the quality of the other novellas. However, I stopped reading the first one and gave the second a try. It was SO MUCH better and super adorable.

The third was… cute. Not as cute as the others, but enjoyable. (A fun take on “truth or dare” though.)

The last one was… exactly like the previous two and I couldn’t take it anymore and stopped reading.

I get all of the novellas having similarities because they all have the same theme. But, you can do several different takes on that theme. As I read, each story felt roughly the same and didn’t have much variation. You could argue that most romance books follow similar plots, but this was too much. If I’d read each one individually and not one right after the other, I might have enjoyed them more.

You’ll Like This Book If You Also Enjoy: historical romance, novellas, former lovers reuniting, single parent love stories, characters with more “experience,” holiday romance

Content Warnings: snowed in, miscarriage, loss of a spouse, loss of parents

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Joy to the Earl by Nicola Davidson

• Genre: Adult Historical Romance

• Format: ebook

• Rating: 3.5 Stars

Quick Summary: Right as Jack Reynolds finds out he’s an earl, he gets into a carriage accident leaving him with amnesia and in the care of the scandalous “wicked widow,” Rosalind.

There was a lot about this novella I was excited about - particularly how our hero had a disability from birth. Yet… it fell a little flat for me. It was a fun quick read for right before Christmas, but it would have benefited to be a bit longer as it all felt rushed. While most romances are more of the “whirlwind” variety, this one didn’t totally convince me it was TRUE LOVE FOREVER. I liked the couple, and they were fine together. But I didn’t completely believe it. I mean, they were in each others pants before they even had a full conversation. Which, for some people that’s fine, but for me it’s not my cup of tea. (Only a few can pull that “hook up to romance” plot line for me. The Holiday being one example.)

The disability representation was fine. Not amazing. It had a lot of the “woe is me no one loves me cause I’m SO DEFORMED.” Which, is a fine and valid story line, particularly depending on the society/time period you’re writing about. It’s just that… we ALWAYS hear that story and I’m ready for something else.

However, Rosalind’s daughter was the best.

You’ll like this book if you also enjoy: hook-up to relationship, disability rep, single moms, historical romance, amnesia, whirlwind romance, holidays

Content Warnings: amnesia, prejudice against the disabled as well as sexually active women, worst parenting ever, loss of loved ones

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Re-Reads

Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares by Rachel Cohen and David Levithan

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

The Quiet Little Woman by Louisa May Alcott

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson

The Night Circus by Erin Morgentern

A Darker Shade of Magic by VE Schwab

A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J Maas

What did you all read in December?

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Like what you read? Consider buying me a coffee.

2018 Year in Review and 2019 Goals

Here we are again. New Years Eve is behind us and it’s time for Helene In Between’s start of the year link-up. As I write this, it is New Years Day and I’m working the 2nd shift. It’s quiet, the holiday decorations have already been taken down, and the building is practically empty after the New Years Eve partiers have left. The post-holiday blues are hitting me a bit hard this year. I was so excited for them to come for what felt like forever, and I prepared and counted down the days. Then, as the season went on there was something off about it.

Maybe it was work. Maybe it was how our weather went all topsy-turvey in Chicago and it was one of the warmest Decembers ever. (I know snow has nothing to do with Christmas, but I need snow and cold weather at Christmas. I just do. I let Bing Crosby infiltrate my brain too much.) My family and I had a great holiday, and I spent New Years Eve with some friends. Yet, I’m caught off guard by the arrival of 2019.

Everyone has been sharing their favorite memories of 2018. A lot of people openly admitted this year wasn’t the best, but they still had special moments to look back on. As I tried to think of how this past year as been for me, it was a struggle.

2018 In Review

2018 wasn’t a bad year. At least not for me personally. We didn’t have any big tragedies with my family or my close friends. Jobs remained the same. My parents and I moved again which was annoying, but the house we’re in now is much better than the condo we were in previously. The animals, Bandit and Peanut, remain well. Yet, I still can’t imagine myself looking back on this past year and thinking “Wow! That was a great year!”

The best part for sure was watching my niece grow. She’s 13 months now, and we loved every moment of watching all of her firsts and are excited for all of the rest of them to come. Then as I thought about it, that’s not really my life. It’s her life and my sisters and my brother-in-law’s. Yes, I get to participate in large parts of it and I’m so fortunate to have a family where we’re all included. But, it’s not necessarily part of my life.

Or maybe it is? I don’t know.

I’m sure somewhere in all of this there’s a lesson about how significant and wonderful it is to be the person to be happy and supportive of the people around them. Which is awesome, and I’m happy to be that person. I love celebrating alongside the people I care about and raising them up when awesome things happen.

But yet…

Yet.

The goals I set for myself never panned out. I didn’t travel. Heck, I don’t think I even took my vacation week - even if I didn’t go anywhere I could have had a staycation.

2018 wasn’t a bad year for me. There were some fun moments. I went to C2E2 and took photos with the cast of Gilmore Girls and This is Us. (Although it all happened so quickly that I didn’t even register it happened until I saw the photos.)

I saw three musicals downtown, including my first pre-Broadway premire (Pretty Woman) where I also met Samantha Barks, Steve Kazee, Tony Bracco, and others at stage door. As big of a Broadway geek I am, I’ve never gone to the pre-Broadway previews or stage door before and it was fun! I also saw Waitress for my birthday, then Miss Saigon in November. I honestly couldn’t tell you which of the tree I liked the most. All of them were so wonderful!

I also saw Josh Groban and Idnina Menzel at United Center. I never go to concerts, but when I heard these two were touring together I knew I had to go. It was completely amazing after being such a fan of theirs for so long. I think I died about 20 million times through the whole thing.

In October a friend and I went to a VE Schwab event at a local book store. We didn’t do the meet and greet line (which, I’d met her at YallFest a couple years ago) but we loved hearing her speak and talk about her writing process. I admire her so much.

I stole this from VE Schwab’s instagram.

On the writing front, I started out working on my Vampire Snow White novel but got stuck. So, I switched over to my fairy tale mash-up, White Rose. I participated in PitchWars for the second year in a row, and all of August was basically dedicated to completing the first draft of White Rose. It was hard, and while I didn’t get chosen for PitchWars it was still an awesome experience and I’ve learned so much since then thanks to the people I’ve met through it. But now as I’ve been attempting to do rewrites and revisions, it’s been difficult to recapture how happy I was that I’d finished the draft. Something in that creative side of my brain that was dedicated to that novel seems to have dried up, and I’m trying to get it back.

This picture has nothing to do with anything. I just really like how it turned out.

I’d had the goal of having something query ready by the end of the year… and it didn’t happen.

Another thing on the writing front was that a small group of writing friends and I went on a retreat together over the summer. It was really fun, and I hope we can do it again. There’s been some chat of trying again this winter.

On the media front…

I read 100 books - which did complete my goal of reading less. I read 113 books n 2017. I will also have a post wrapping up and sharing my favorite books of 2018 in a week or two.

According to Spotify my #1 song was “This is Me” from The Greatest Showman. (Not surprising in the least and that was definitely the song of the year and it was ROBBED at the Oscars. ROBBED I TELL YOU.) I also listened to a lot of Taylor Switft, Demi Lovato, musical soundtracks, Sia, and Josh Groban. All of these are also not surprising. The first song I listened to was “Bad Romance” by Lady Gaga and she is a most excellent way to start out the listening year.

With movies, I LOVED Love, Simon and saw it twice. Which is also something not that surprising since I’ve read the book at least seven times. It was a fantastic adaptation. Speaking of adaptations, To All the Boys I Loved Before , The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, and Dumplin’ on Netflix were also pretty fantastic. Some other movies I loved were: Lady Bird, The Christmas Chronicles, The Princess Switch, Mama Mia! Here We Go Again, and finished out the year by seeing Mary Poppins Returns which was a fantastic life choice.

For TV… I finally started watching Parks and Rec and I can’t believe it took me this long. I’m on season 6 and almost done! I binged The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and while there are for sure some issues, it was entertaining and a good watch for the Halloween season. I tried The Haunting of Hill House but only made it through one episode because I’m a scaredy-cat. I did a rewatch of Glee, That 70s Show, Gilmore Girls, and now I’m rewatching Friends. I do a lot of rewatching of TV shows cause then I can have it on in the background and if I’m not completely paying attention it’s not a big deal. I was outraged (OUTRAGED I TELL YOU) when Evana Lynch didn’t win Dancing with the Stars, and I’m annoyed that Colton is going to be the new Bachelor because especially on Bachelor in Paradise he just wasn’t that great. But, we all know come Monday night I’m gonna watch and get sucked into all of the drama anyway. I was also really mad that Kennedy didn’t win The Voice, but Chevelle was my 2nd choice so at least she won. I started Riverdale but need to still catch up on season 2. Then, of course, I think we can all agree that one of the best things to come out of 2018 is the Netflix revival of Queer Eye. Or did it release in 2017? I don’t remember. Either way, if season 1 was last year and season 2 was this year it was still one of the best parts of 2018. THE QUEER EYE GUYS HAVE SAVED 2018 FOR US OKAY?

I listened to a lot of podcasts and discovered a lot of new ones! Of course, there’s Johnathan Van Ness’ podcast, Getting Curious where he interviews experts about topics he’s curious about. I continued to listen to some of my favorites: Writer Writer Pants on Fire, Writing Excuses, Broadway Backstory, Myths and Legends , and Print Run Podcast. But, I’ve become OBSESSED with Female Criminals and The History Chicks. I could listen to those all day and not be bored for a single moment. They’re completely fascinating. Then, my friends over at The Snark Squad started THE MOST AMAZING podcast this year too, and I love listening to them laugh and discuss pop culture and media. I’ve secretly been wanting them to start a podcast in addition to their blog for a long time now and I’m so glad they finally did.

My last selfie of 2018. My niece is always entertained by the filters.

And… that’s about it. Nothing has really changed for me and my life. Same job, same friends, same neighborhood (even if we changed addresses… the Southwest suburbs of Chicago are weird like that), and I get to watch my niece grow up. Which isn’t bad. I have so much to be thankful for.

Yet…

Yet, there’s still that nagging feeling of “what else?”

Looking Ahead to 2019

So, now we’re here in 2019. A new year. A new start. I rang it in at a relaxed party with some old friends, a couple whom I hadn’t seen in a long time, then even made it home by midnight to wish my family a happy new year. (I told you it was relaxed. We played Pandemic through the Times Square Ball drop and didn’t even break open the champagne.)

I’m hesitantly looking forward to the new year. Excited is a bit too strong of a word for it, but I am curious about the new year. I know the whole thing is a “social construct.” There is no magic which happens when the clock strikes midnight on New Years Eve. If you want do something to change your life, you can do it any day of the year.

There’s something I like about having that set day as a fresh start. All together we can turn the page into a new chapter and start over.

Once again, I’m setting the goal of having something query ready this year.

I want to take a freaking vacation. Even if it’s a “staycation.”

I’m lowering my reading goal to 80 books because I still feel like my reading-life balance isn’t particularly healthy.

I want to take more photos. I used to take pictures of me, my friends, and my family all of the time. Not because there was something special we were doing, but just because. I take a lot of photos still, but of nothing that special. It’s all for social media where I pose my book in a pretty way and talk about what I’m reading. Which, there’s nothing wrong with that and I’m going to keep doing that. But, I noticed that my phone is severely lacking photos of people over the last 12 months. Heck, I barely even took any selfies this year. That needs to change.

Most of all though, in 2019 I want to be open. Open to new things, changes, family, friends… life in general.

I’ve never been one to do a “word of the year.” But if I were, I think “open” would be a good one.

How are you all feeling going into the new year? And don’t forget to write your own post and link it up and/or check out everyone else’s posts via Helene In Between!

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You might also enjoy:

My Most Anticipated Books of 2019

Tooting My Own Horn

Thoughts on Turning a Year Older

2017 Year in Review and Looking Ahead to 2018

Like what you read? Consider buying me a coffee.

Merry in Manhattan - Part 4

Are you ready to read the end of Lane and Chris’ holiday story?

It’s been so much fun to write this, and I’m really glad I jumped back into short fiction. I love my novels and they are my passion. But, working on something shorter is a nice break and it gives a great sense of accomplishment. (Especially since a novel can take several months or even years to complete!) I can’t promise that I’m going to post flash fiction on a regular basis, but I do want to do more. I wonder if this is the right platform for it though. I love having it on my blog because then I have a “main hub” for everything and people don’t have to click around to different websites. Yet, I also know that people don’t usually go to blogs to read fiction online. So, maybe Wattpad or something is a better option? I’m not sure yet.

Anyway.

Enjoy!

“Terrance is there?” Mom asked Christmas morning during our video chat.

I looked over my shoulder to the bedroom door, as though Terrance was going to pop his head in at any moment. He’d (thankfully) slept on the couch all night. I’d been tempted to throw him out, but it was late and cold outside. I wasn’t that heartless. “Yeah, he just showed up last night. Did he tell you anything?”

She shook her head. “Never said a word to me. Although you have been flaunting that new guy of yours online the last few weeks. Maybe it finally made him get his head out of his ass.”

“Mom!”

She looked at me innocently. “All of those pictures you don’t consider flaunting?”

“I wasn’t… he’s just a…” Friend? Co-worker? Guy I kissed last night? Great. This was far more complicated now than it was supposed it to be. “We weren’t flaunting.”

Well… maybe we were a little.

“I need him to leave though!”

Mom only shrugged. “It’s your apartment, do what you want. I need to go to my Christmas massage. Have a great day sweetie and I’ll talk to you later.”

“Merry Christmas, Mom,” I said far too glumly than was appropriate for the day.

“Merry Christmas.”

The moment we ended the chat I heard Terrance talking to someone out in the living room. Was he calling home to wish them a merry Christmas? Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no oh no. I hurried out of my room to find Terrance waving and closing the door and Chris walking away.

I shoved past him and ran out to the hallway. Chris was already stepping onto the elevator.

“Babe! What are you doing?” Terrance called after me.

But it was too late. The elevator door shut before I could get to it. He didn’t even look over his shoulder at the sound of me calling after him. I bounded down the steps in the faint hope I’d beat him downstairs. There was no such luck. When I got down to the bottom floor Chris was already driving off in a cab.

***

Lucy’s jaw dropped as I told the story. It was that weird time between Christmas and New Year where no one truly knew what day it was. When Lucy saw that I didn’t join Chris at the Kwanzaa party, she’s called me right away since Chris didn’t give her any explanation as to why I wasn’t there. If he wasn’t going to talk about it, apparently she’d be sure I was.

I should have been more concerned about her apparent lack of respect for his privacy but… in all honesty, it felt good to be sharing the whole thing with someone. I confessed how it all was a ruse and we’d had a deal where I would save him from Alexis and in return I’d get his office. I even told her about ice skating after her party and how it seemed like things were changing between us.

“So… what happened with Terrance?” Lucy asked before returning to her tea.

“Apparently he told Chris we’d gotten back together. I threw him out of the apartment the second he told me. He claims that he thought we could ‘work it out.’” I played with my new key chain and twisted it around my fingers.

Lucy scoffed. “Ugh. Men. And what about Chris?”

“I’ve tried talking to him. Calls, texts, even emails. He won’t reply to anything.”

Lucy leaned back in the chair and considered me for a moment. “Chris… he seems like nothing bothers him, but it’s not true. He had a pretty bad break up a few years ago, and everything with his family… it takes awhile for him to trust someone. He totally should hear you out and not believe that Terrance guy and I’m absolutely going to give him a piece of my mind. But, I’m not totally surprised.”

I stuck the key chain back in my pocket and looked out the window of the cafe where we were sitting. Everything was still decked out in it’s holiday splendor, but now that Christmas was over there was a sort of gray tint to everything. “So what do I do?”

“Do you like him?”

As much as I hated to admit it, I really did, and told her so.

“Then show up New Years Eve. I’ll send you the details. Amanda and I will take care of the rest.”

***

The party was at Chris’ penthouse - because of course it was. Even though we’d spent nearly every day together the last few weeks, this was the first I’d been to his place. It was… huge. It was like a house and it made my head hurt to think of how much rent must be.

Amanda met me at the door and took my coat and showed me around, introducing me to everyone I didn’t know yet. For a brief moment I saw Chris in the kitchen chatting with Levi. Our eyes met and for a second I thought he was excited to see me. A smile played on his lips, but then he lowered his head and with a pat on Levi’s shoulder, exited the room.

I threw my hands in the air. “He shouldn’t even be mad at me! I should be mad at him for ignoring me!”

And I was mad. Clearly he didn’t like me as much as I thought he did or else he would have given me a chance to explain. This whole thing was ridiculous.

Amanda handed me a drink. “He’s not mad at you. He’s just… being Chris.”

I took the drink and took a sip. “That’s what Lucy said too. Trust issues.”

“I mean, he’s being an idiot, and his avoiding you has gone on way too long,” Amanda agreed. “Just… it’ll work out. You’ll see.”

“If you say so-”

“AHHHHH I’M HERE!”

My blood curdled at the sound.

Alexis. She burst into the penthouse with arms raised and heels clacking along the floor. Even I cringed when she walked into a room now and my first instinct was to check on Chris. But no, he had to fend for himself this time. With a roll of my eyes I walked as far away from her as possible because if I knew one thing, I knew she’d go right for Chris. If I was away from her, I was away from him.

The party went on, and Lucy and Amanda made sure I enjoyed myself. We drank and danced and I even flirted with a guy or two. It would be fine. I could make friends and do this on my own. Without Chris.

Alexis shrieked from the patio and everyone turned to look. She burst back into the room and scampered toward me. She grasped my arm and pulled me toward the patio. “Oh my god Lane, you have to help me! My necklace fell off!”

“Alexis, were you even wearing a necklace?”

“Not anymore!” She dragged me outside and I rubbed my arms. Damn, it was freezing out there. “Look down there!” Alexis demanded.

Twinkle lights were strung along the railing and more hung on the bricks walls to illuminate the space. But even then, I had no idea how we were going to see a piece of jewelry. I grabbed my phone and turned on the flashlight and I crouched on the ground to search “Alexis, are you sure you dropped it?”

“What’s going on?” Chris appeared at the porch doorway and stepped out.

Alexis grasped his shoulders and spun him around. “I lost my necklace! I’m so glad you came out here to help! You and Lane look out here, I’ll go back inside.”

“Wait - but-”

She rushed inside and shut the door. He grasped the handle and pulled but it wouldn’t budge. She’d locked it. From inside Lucy and Amanda merely smiled and waved and silently toasted me with their champagne glasses. Of course. There was no necklace.

“She didn’t loose anything did she?” Chris asked.

“I don’t think so.” I sat on my heels and looked up at him. Well… yet another time when I really shouldn’t have been wearing a skirt. Chris chuckled at the sight and extended a hand which I gratefully accepted to stand back again. “I think this is their way of making us talk.”

Chris smiled and didn’t let go of my hand once I was on my feet again. “Yeah… I guess so. I wasn’t sure if you were going to come.”

“Lucy told me to.”

“Right.” He looked down at our linked hands. “Look … I’m sorry I didn’t call you back.”

“Or text… or email…”

He chuckled humorlessly. “Yeah… at first it was because I was mad. But then I was embarrassed. Then I figured it was for the best.”

“Why for the best?”

He sighed and looked anywhere but at my face. “Because if you are back with him, then why should I bother? And if you aren’t, you shouldn’t be with someone who wouldn’t even hear you out."

I shifted so I met his eyes and he had no choice but to look at me. “Chris. Terrance came thinking it was going to be some great grand gesture. He was jealous of you. Our plan worked a little too well I guess. He must have seen how much I liked you.”

He raised his brows. “You do?”

I groaned. “Don’t make me say it again. Your head is going to grow too big.”

He genuinely smiled for the first time all night. “You know, I’d been trying to find a way to ask you out for months.”

I pulled my head back a bit. “You what?”

He shrugged. “The whole scheme was Levi’s idea.” He gestured toward the window where Levi waved.

“Did Lucy and Amanda know?”

He shook his head.

“And Alexis?”

“Who even knows about her.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. All this time, and I had no idea.

Men.

Chris stroked my hair and wrapped his arms around me. Which was nice not just because it was him, but also I was freeing. “I’m sorry.”

“You already said that.”

“Oh.”

Not able to resist anymore I rose to my tiptoes and kissed him.

“Lane, it’s not even midnight yet-”

“Oh shush and kiss me already.”

Holidays in the city. Definitely better than my small town.

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If you enjoyed this, you might also enjoy:

Meet the Family Part 1

Meet the Family Part 2

An Unexpected Christmas Eve

Like what you read? Consider buying me a coffee.