Recent Updates and Currently Reading | December 30

Happy New Year! I have no idea where this holiday went. I was able to read quite a bit this past week. We finally watched the Barbie movie, and my son and I have been playing the new Super Mario Bros Wonder game. It's quirky and it's fun. I hope you all have an amazing weekend.

What book will be your first of the year?

Finished Reading

I managed to read the books I said I wanted to read this week!

  

Lovelight Farms by B.K. Borison [dnf] - I'm in my romance learning phase. Lovelight Farms is supposed to be a "fake dating" romance, but it's really more of a "friends to lovers" book. This didn't work for me, but I'm getting to know my tastes in romance.

The September House by Carissa Orlando ⭐⭐⭐★★- Aw, man. This book took a big turn in tone halfway through, and I'm not sure how I feel about it. I did feel disappointed that it went from a really unique, cozy, humorous horror story to a trigger filled, quite typical horror story. I'm pretty bummed.

Where the Drowned Girls Go by Seanan McGuire ⭐⭐⭐⭐★ - I'm so glad I decided to reread this series this year. I knew this book would hit differently the second time around.

Edgedancer by Brandon Sanderson (⭐⭐⭐★★) is #2.5 in the Stormlight Archive series. I'm so glad I checked to see if there were any novellas between Words of Radiance and Oathbringer. This was an OK read for me. Sanderson says this novella gives some important backstory for Oathbringer. I'm glad to have read it since I plan on reading Oathbringer in 2024.

Lost in the Moment and Found by Seanan McGuire ⭐⭐⭐⭐★ - This was the most heartbreaking of the series so far. I need a good ending for Antsy at some point in this series! I'm all caught up and ready for the new one in January!

Currently Reading

I'm hoping to finish reading Iron Flame before the end of the year. This book is too long, and I refuse to carry it over into 2024.

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This post is being shared as part of The Sunday Salon at Readerbuzz, Book Date’s It's Monday! What Are You Reading? and Caffeinated Book Reviewer's The Sunday Post.

Ten Most Recent Additions to My Bookshelf

Today's Top Ten Tuesday topic is Ten Most Recent Additions to My Bookshelf. Below are some of my latest purchases. Have you read any of these?

Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree - Bookshops & Bonedust is the prequel to Legends & Lattes. I'm so looking forward to another cozy fantasy set in that world.

No One Can Know by Kate Alice Marshall - I am such a big Kate Alice Marshall fan. This is her follow up thriller to last year's What Lies in the Woods.

A Winter in New York by Josie Silver - No One Can Know and A Winter in New York were my December Book of the Month selections.

I have the leatherbound edition of Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson, but I really wanted to have this edition as well for reading and annotating. This book is a new favorite!

Three cheers for my book club for picking Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt! It gave me an excuse to finally buy and read it. We all loved this one!

I finally bought a copy of The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune. I'm really looking forward to reading it.

The Stranger Upstairs by Lisa M. Matlin - This was my Book of the Month pick for September. A social media influencer buys a murder house and thrillery things start to occur. This is a debut novel and I'm excited to read it.

The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger - I also picked this up from Book of the Month. I loved Ordinary Grace by Willian Kent Krueger, and I think I will love this standalone novel as well.

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston - I hear the movie adaptation is cute, too!

An Immense World by Ed Yong - My friend Teresa read this and said it was really interesting. It sounds amazing. I'm looking forward to spending some time with the animal world and their senses.

Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter - I'm still exploring my taste in romance, and this one is centered around movie quotes (I think) so may be a great fit for me. I've heard such cute things so I'm happy to give it a try.

Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center - I really want to check out Katherine Center's books as well. I know this is much more woman's fiction than romance, but I've heard a lot of great things about this one.

Recent Updates and Currently Reading | December 23

This is the time of year where I get some time off of work and hopefully get to reset myself! I was a terrible blogger this year, but I'm happy that I tried to at least stay in touch with it. My youngest is going to middle school next year so this school year is a lot of "lasts". Like this past week was our last school Christmas party. Next year my oldest is a senior in high school. I'm thinking I will be a terrible blogger next year, too 😆

Last weekend I got in a lot of audiobook listening and puzzle working time which was amazing. I was able to work two Christmas puzzles. I love working houses so these puzzles were fabulous.

Finished Reading

It's amazing what some time off of work will do.

Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Looking at other reviews, I keep seeing Words of Radiance is the highest rated novel on Goodreads. I don't know how to verify that, but I think that's really cool. Words of Radiance was quite the read in every way. 

A Winter in New York by Josie Silver ⭐⭐⭐★★ - There is definitely an audience for this one, but I struggled greatly with the level of lying going on with our main character. I'll post a small review with my thoughts this week.

Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - One of my favorites of the series. I had forgotten some things so it smashed my heart all over again.

Currently Reading

I think I'm going to read these books this week. This is the current plan.

Lovelight Farms by B.K. Borison - This was my original pick for this year's holiday read, but A Winter in New York swooped in out of nowhere. I'm still going to try to read this one.

The September House by Carissa Orlando - So I never actually finished reading The September House. I think it will land as one of my favorite reads of the year so I want to finish it properly before the year ends!

Where the Drowned Girls Go by Seanan McGuire - I'm going to continue my reread of the Wayward Children series if I have time. This is the book that started my reread of the series. I didn't remember the characters' stories well enough for this book to pack the punch that it should have. Hopefully I didn't draw out this reread too long!

Added to the TBR

I forgot to post these books after I got them so I'm doing it now.

Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree - Bookshops & Bonedust is the prequel to Legends & Lattes. I'm so looking forward to another cozy fantasy set in that world.

No One Can Know by Kate Alice Marshall - I am such a big Kate Alice Marshall fan. This is her follow up thriller to last year's What Lies in the Woods.

A Winter in New York by Josie Silver - No One Can Know and A Winter in New York were my December book of the month selections.

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This post is being shared as part of The Sunday Salon at Readerbuzz, Book Date’s It's Monday! What Are You Reading? and Caffeinated Book Reviewer's The Sunday Post.

Recent Updates and Currently Reading | December 10

Fabulous news! I am finally in the mood to read. I'm hoping my reading slump is on its way out! It would be wonderful to catch up on some reading during the holidays.

Finished Reading

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - This was another reread of A Christmas Carol. I listened to this while wrapping my Christmas presents, and I loved it as always.

Currently Reading

Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson - Not only am I in the mood to read, but I'm in the mood to read this so I'm leaning into it. I want to get caught up with The Stormlight Archive before book 5 releases next year. I'd love to get caught up with all of the Cosmere books to be honest. We'll see how successful I am. For now, I'm excited to finally experience this one (book 2 of Stormlight).

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This post is being shared as part of The Sunday Salon at Readerbuzz, Book Date’s It's Monday! What Are You Reading? and Caffeinated Book Reviewer's The Sunday Post.

Recent Updates and Currently Reading | December 3

I love how much everyone loves Remarkably Bright Creatures ❤️ My entire book club loved it, too. We need some recommendations for next year if you have any suggestions.

I'm sad that I didn't get to read a lot more books this year than I managed to read. This was probably my lowest year in the last decade, but I did read some really great books which is what matters most.

Do you have any particular books you are trying to read or finish before the end of the year?

Finished Reading

Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - I loved reading this so much. If you haven't read Sanderson before, I think this is a very accessible place to start. 

Currently Reading

White Horse by Erika T. Wurth - This is the December readalong pick over on the Horror Spotlight discord group. We have such a wonderful group over there.

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This post is being shared as part of The Sunday Salon at Readerbuzz, Book Date’s It's Monday! What Are You Reading? and Caffeinated Book Reviewer's The Sunday Post.

Recent Updates and Currently Reading | November 26

I hope everyone had a wonderful week and hopefully for most of you - a long weekend. My oldest got covid for Thanksgiving so that uprooted our plans which was fine. We learned long ago to pivot and go with the flow. I'm just hoping we don't all fall one by one. I'm loading up on the vitamins! I'm also trying to rest to be honest so that means plenty of time for movies and reading. That's not too bad.

Finished Reading

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - I loved this! It was everything I wanted it to be. Highly recommend.

Defiant - the final Skywood series book by Brandon Sanderson was released this week. I read it immediately, and unfortunately I think I was already in a not good place with this series and I wasn't able to rekindle the spark I had during the first (and maybe even in the second) book. ⭐⭐⭐★★

Currently Reading

Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros - Holy turkey this is a long one. I'm about 250 pages in (out of 623), and so far it's about the same as the first one so that's fine.

It has taken me all year to feel like it was the "right time" to read Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson. I'm loving it. I'm 70 pages in, and so far it's threatening to become a favorite.

Currently Watching

We watched John Wick 4 which was horribly boring to me. I mean... there was non-stop action for 3 hours, but it was the same action over and over again for 3 straight hours.

I finally got to see A Haunting in Venice. This is supposedly based on Agatha Christie's Hallowe'en Party, but... no. It's not. There are some characters with the same names... It's an extremely loose adaptation, and frankly it wasn't at all done in the spirit of Agatha Christie.

We also finally watched Parasite. This wasn't at all what I was expecting! I don't know where my preconceived notions even came from because I was way off base. It was fine. It feels overhyped to me.

We started watching Our Flag Means Death which is silly and fun. It has humor that is very similar to What We Do in the Shadows. I love the characters and the actors so it's definitely something light to escape into.

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This post is being shared as part of The Sunday Salon at Readerbuzz, Book Date’s It's Monday! What Are You Reading? and Caffeinated Book Reviewer's The Sunday Post.

Recent Updates and Currently Reading | October 22

Hi, friends! This time of year is so busy. This is the first weekend we haven't been traveling due to the kids' sports and things. It was nice. 

My husband and I were off work Friday and we binged watched Mrs. Davis on Peacock. Have you seen it? Such a strange show, but I loved it.

I'm still crafting more than I'm reading. I'm mostly cross stitching and sewing. Right now I'm working on this Glowing Pumpkin ornament. I still have most of the beading left to do. This is my first time beading and I'm really loving this little project.

Currently Reading

I just realized there's a theme here! Both of these books are excellent. The September House is so unique - I'm loving it. I just started The Good House yesterday, but it's really good so far, too!

Finished Reading

Can you tell what my favorite type of book is? 😂

I absolutely love T. Kingfisher's writing. She has become one of my favorite authors. I enjoyed A House with Good Bones.

Added to the TBR

The beautiful folks at Bramble sent me a copy of Alone With You in the Ether by Olivie Blake. This may be a great option to pull me out of my slump. I've never read Olivie Blake.

Three cheers for my book club for picking Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt! This has been on my wishlist forever and now I have an excuse to buy it.

I finally bought a copy of The House in the Cerulean Sea. I'm really looking forward to reading it.

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This post is being shared as part of The Sunday Salon at Readerbuzz, Book Date’s It's Monday! What Are You Reading? and Caffeinated Book Reviewer's The Sunday Post.