Happy New Year, friends! 🥳

I can’t believe that it’s already the last day of December as I write this. How quickly time does fly! I’ve spent my month in Bali reunited with the parents in our newly renovated home. My sister has been with me and my brother recently joined us and for the first time in a very long time, it’s the five of us under one roof again. It’s been a little… overwhelming at times (lol) but it’s also been nice! 😊 We’ve been really lucky that the sun has been shining more than it has been raining which gives us time to soak up some vitamin D after a year stuck indoors.

This month was also my last month of work and… It was a bittersweet moment. Five years of my life with this organisation and its been tough a lot of the time but I know I’ve been lucky to have a well-paying job that allowed me to indulge in my pretty expensive love of books (especially pretty special edition ones)! 😂 Let’s hope 2022 brings something good my way on the employment front.

I ended up reading 26 books in December and all of them were romances. I’m not usually as a seasonal reader but apparently holiday romances have been my thing this month and I’m not mad about it at all! For the most part, I enjoyed most of the ones I read but there were a few duds that weren’t my jam or ended up being a let down (for me). I think this might be the most I’ve read out of any month this year and what a great way to end 2021, especially considering how weird my reading mood has been all year!

In terms of favourites, this month saw me reading two of my favourites for the year: The Love Hypothesis and Battle Royal! I loved these books so much and both book couples are some of my new favourites. There are so many feel good and swoontastic moments in these books and I can’t stop gushing about them! 😍

Book covers are linked to Goodreads and the title text is linked to my reviews, if available!

5 pandas

Battle Royal
The Love Hypothesis
Chef’s Kiss
The Bridge Kingdom (The Bridge Kingdom #1)
The Traitor Queen (The Bridge Kingdom #2)

4.5 pandas

Window Shopping

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4 pandas

In a Holidaze
Three Bells, Two Bows and One Brother’s Best Friend (Holiday Brothers #2)
The One Night
Homecoming King (Three Kings #1)
Dipped in Holly
The Plight Before Christmas
Twelve Naughty Days

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3.5 pandas

Small Town Pretender (Havenbrook #5)
A Not So Meet Cute
The Naughty, the Nice and the Nanny (Holiday Brothers #2)
Only For A Night (Lick #1)

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Ink
Oh. What. Fun.
Merry Inkmas
Krampus and the Crone (Horned Holidays #1)
Before Girl
Only For Your Touch (Lick #2)
Sarcrifice & Heir (Bloodline Vampires #1&2)

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2.5 pandas

A Partridge and a Pregnancy (Holiday Brothers #3) (actual 2.75)

Y’all, I’m going to stop about doing better with engaging with the community cos this month was just nope. I didn’t often get back on my laptop after I finished work (when I was still working and most definitely after). I’m sorry I struggle to do better 🙈

• Tracy @ Cornerfolds: The unexpected ways my reading habits changed in 2021
• Sabrina @ Wordy & Whimsical: 13 Books with Unexpected Story Structures
• Dedra @ A Book Wanderer: Christmas Songs Book Tag Mashup 2021
• Allona @ Rain Check and Read: 2022 Yearlong Book Buying Ban Reading Challenge
• Jess @ Jessticulates: On not reaching goals — and why that’s fine
• Kal @ Reader Voracious: 2022 Ultimate Book Blogger/Reader Spreadsheet Template
• Maria @ The Character Study: Reading Goals and Pressure
• Erin @ Reading On A Star: Drawing the Line Between Inspired or Copied Content
• Malka @ Paper Procrastinators: The Bad Boy Experiment ft. Experiments of My Own

And that’s the last month of this year wrapped up! Even though my reading mood in 2021 was wild AF, I’m glad the year ended with a pretty great month of reading! What was your favourite read this month? ❤️ I hope we all have a great year of reading in 2022! 🥰