Friends, it’s the last Wednesday of 2023! Can you believe?!
Hello, hello and welcome back to another episode of WWW Wednesday, a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World of Words, which means I’ll be answering these questions:
We’re back with another Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl.
This week’s topic is The Ten Most Recent Additions to My Bookshelf (Maybe share your holiday book haul?)
Since it’s Christmas, many of us will be away from our computer screens but I thought there was no better time to do the Christmas Songs Book Tag! My family doesn’t celebrate Christmas but I love the festive atmosphere and I admit to being a sucker for the tunes. Unsurprisingly, I’ve been listening to Christmas hits for the whole month and that’s not stopping today! 😍
Caro tagged me to do this one and if you haven’t yet, do check out her blog cos it’s wonderful. 💜 On that note, let’s just get to it. I plan to choose my answers from my 2023 reads as much as I possibly can!
This tag was originally created by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl.
I didn’t think it’d be so hard to choose but I think Lizzie and Rake take this title. They were just SO PERFECT and their romance was *chef’s kiss*. I love them! 🥹
I didn’t think I could find something holiday-themed for this answer but Ves was away from “home” for the holidays when he found himself in Piney Peaks!
I was tempted to go with a novella but I decided to shine a spotlight on a middle-grade fantasy graphic novel instead. This was super cute and had a lovely message too!
As I said in a recent post, I’m my own Santa and here are a few titles I’m thinking of treating myself to:
I’m an emotional reader so it doesn’t take much to make me cry but this book in particular had me ugly-crying in a big way! Woof, the emotions! 😭 Actually, no lie, this whole series had me crying rivers, lol.
I live in the tropics but that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy my share of holiday romances! 😍
I did read a trilogy this year but only the one so that would be cheating. So I have to share my all-time favourite trilogy and that’s without question The Green Bone Saga by Fonda Lee.
Okay, I admit I’m cheating a bit with this one because I’m not picking one character I’m picking four. The four septuagenarians who are part of the Thursday Murder Club. There would be endless drinking and undoubtedly all the stories!
This was one of my most anticipated releases for 2023. I’d been looking forward to it since I binged all five books in the series at the end of 2022. I wept with disappointment and blocked its existence from my mind, lol.
I’ve got a very short 2024-releases list started on Goodreads now but from that list, Tia Williams’ next book is the one that I’m most desperately looking forward to. Also, can we just take a moment to appreciate the magnificence that is this cover, pls? 😍😭
That’s it for the Christmas Songs Book Tag! Do you like Christmas songs or are you over it all? 😂 If you want to do this tag and link back, I’d love to know your answers! Hope everyone has a good, relaxed day and a nice break!
We’re back with another Sundays in Bed With… meme! This meme dares to ask you what book has been in your bed this morning and is hosted by Midnight Book Girl. Come share what book you’ve spent your time reading in bed or wish you had time to read today!
I’ll be spending my Sunday night in bed reading Song of Silver, Flame Like Night. I’ve been in a non-fantasy mood but I need to read it because I have the ARC of the second book to read by the first week of January! 😂 It took a couple of chapters for me to get into the story cos of my mood but I’m eager to get back to it now!
The Thursday Murder Club (Thursday Murder Club #1)
Publisher: Penguin
Pub Date: 3 September 2020
Genre: Murder Mystery
Panda Rating:
(4 pandas)
In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet up once a week to investigate unsolved murders. But when a brutal killing takes place on their very doorstep, the Thursday Murder Club find themselves in the middle of their first live case.
Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron might be pushing eighty but they still have a few tricks up their sleeves.
Can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer before it’s too late?
Murder, multiple suicides (recounted), drug dealing (recounted, not in detail), dementia
TL;DR: Well, for a murder mystery, this was delightfully charming and cosy! I didn’t think it’d be so much fun following around four septuagenarians in a classy retirement village who are more than a little obsessed with murders but here we are. Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron were wonderful characters and I loved learning more about each of them as the story progressed. There’s a host of side characters who were just as realistic and relatable, especially Chris and Donna, and colour me surprised by the reveals at the end cos I didn’t guess any of it right! 😂 Osman wove the many mysteries and storylines together so well and I can’t wait to continue with this series in the future.
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Happy Friday book lovers! We’re back with another First Lines Friday, a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines? Here are the rules:
First lines:
“A read light blipped on the top left of the control board. Liza B. had a caller. “Hello and good evening. You are live with Liza B., the only DJ who gives a jam. Tell me what’s on your mind…””
I forgot that this tag existed but I’m glad I was reminded of it because otherwise, I would’ve missed out on doing an annual favourite. It’s time for the Bookish Naughty or Nice Tag, friends! Have I been Naughty or Nice this year? I’m tempted to say naughty but I think I’ve actually been pretty good in 2023, lol. Let’s see if I’m right! 😂
This tag was originally created by Jenniely.
Read More » Hello, hello and welcome back to another episode of WWW Wednesday, a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World of Words, which means I’ll be answering these questions:
We’re back with another Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl.
This week’s topic is Books I Hope Santa Brings/Bookish Wishes.
The Mistletoe Bet (Strawberry Hollow #1)
Pub Date: 1 November 2022
Genre: Contemporary Holiday Romance
Panda Rating:
(4 pandas)
Everyone says “there’s no place like home”… well not for me.
When I’m forced to spend the holidays at home with my family in Strawberry Hollow, I have no idea how I’m even going to survive the week, let alone make it through my least favorite holiday… Christmas.
That is until I run into my childhood crush, and my brother’s best friend, Parker Grant.
Now, he’s the sexy, off-limits doctor in our small town, and nothing like the man I left behind six years ago.
While I hate the holidays, there is nothing that he loves more.
Well, other than a good bet.
Which is exactly what happens when we end up together under the mistletoe.
A bet that changes everything.
He asks for the next seven days to change my mind about Christmas.
But seven days alone with Parker is more than either of us bargained for.
Now, there’s much more at stake than a silly mistletoe bet.
The Mistletoe Bet is a complete standalone Christmas novella with lots of banter, even more laughter and a heartwarming HEA.
This novella is the perfect book to kick off all your holiday romance reads this season! It was a little cheesy but even for a mild Grinchie like myself, I thought it was adorable with just a light touch of steaminess.
Quinn and Parker were cute together and I enjoyed the Christmas adventures they went on as Parker tried to convince Quinn that by the end of their bet, she’d love Christmas and their hometown again. Despite Quinn’s grumpiness and her adamance that she would not be swayed by the festive dates and she would not swoon over sexy Doctor Parker, she slowly acknowledged how much she missed being around the people she loved and how things and people can and do change over time.
These two have great chemistry and I liked that there was no drama at all, especially considering Parker is Quinn’s brother’s bestie. It was refreshingly mature! This story has such a feel-good and cosy vibe and it is like a Hallmark holiday romance but with steam! 😉 If this sounds like your jam, I’d recommend checking it out. I had a lot of fun with it and I can’t wait to read more from Strawberry Hollow! 😍
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