Here is my #bookspin list for December. 🎄I hope to be more productive reading-wise this month.

@TheAromaofBooks I will also be participating in #bookspinbingo this month. 🤓

I read 18 children‘s books in November and these 10 were all 5 stars.
The tagged book is excellent. Irene, an 8 year-old, is taken from her First Nation family to live in a Canadian residential school. The story is based on Irene Couchie‘s, Dupuis‘ grandmother, experience, which was heartbreaking, horrific and true.

This is an Indigenous romance recommended by Michelle of ThorWantsAnotherLetter on YouTube.
This story, set at an urban Indian center, is a little bit of hate to love romance. Henry, a little afloat in life, is basically given Rayanne‘s project by his well-meaning uncle. Rayanne is ticked off (as she should be!) but sucks it up for the benefit of the center. It took a bit for the romance to kick in as the center and it‘s struggles are an ⬇️

It seems odd to say I enjoyed this novel, which is set in North Carolina and told from several perspectives, as it‘s full of pain and heartache, but I did. Ray is the father of an addict, who is pushed to take action. Denny, another addict, has to make a choice. An undercover DEA agent and his handler are trying to make an interstate drug case. This novel is a slow burn until all three story lines collide. #Booked2021 #appalachiannoir

Nov. review

I read all three books currently available in the Ben Walker series in the last few months and I hope there will be more. Walker is the weird science guy they (some government entity, whispers DARPA) send in when things are, well, weird. He is a little bit John McClane (sorry I just rewatched Die Hard 🎄). The first two books are set in different archaeological digs. Book 3 is set in small town America and a bio weapon is released. There is a ⬇️

I heard “The Story” when it came out in 2007, but I didn‘t really become aware of Brandi Carlile until I saw her perform “The Joke” on the 2019 Grammys. Since then her music has been played regularly at our house. I really enjoyed listening to Brandi‘s story so far and the stories behind many of her songs. As others have stated, audio is the best way to go as she performs the songs acoustically at the end of each chapter. Also, please see ⬇️

This is my first CRH read, but I‘m jumping on the Litsy bandwagon. Serial killer, The Nothing Man, leaves a child alive after killing her family. As an adult, the survivor writes a true-crime book about what happened and is determined to find out who he is. I listened to this but it was definitely a page-turner.

November Review

November Wrap-up (since I failed to keep up with #bookreport and #weeklyforcast each week)

This was a slow month for me, no #bookspinbingo . I know the counts below seem like I read a lot, but almost 75% were children‘s picture books.

Total read - 25
Fiction - 20
Audio- 4
Graphic novel - 1
Children‘s book - 14
Kindle - 1
Non-fiction - 5
Audio - 1
Children‘s book -4

#NewYearWhoDis

I‘m excited to dig into my list from @Patchshank as soon as 2022 rolls in! Several listed have been on my TBR a while so this is a great push to get to them. I will probably start with the five pictured, but I hope to get to everything on the list during the year if I can.

Thank you again for all your hard work, Alyisha! @monalyisha 🍪🍪🍪

#BookReport #WeeklyForecast combo

Last week‘s forecast was pretty accurate. I didn‘t read much and only completed The Nothing Man (Pick). I watched a lot of YouTube instead.

Red Hands is still overdue due to max renewals. I feel guilty even though we are fine-free, but at least no one is waiting on it. I seem to have hit a bit of a reading stride again so maybe I will finish it and a few more this week. 💃🏼

I‘ve signed up again! I really enjoy this book challenge each year.

Even though I have 3 prompts for #Booked2021 to complete and I should be reading my overdue library book, I‘m sitting here trying to plan for #Booked2022 already. #noregrets 🥳

#BookspinBingo

Here is my card for November. Dead Space is my #Bookspin and my #Doublespin is any non-fiction book. I have had a slow start, but I hope to get to a number of these. 🍂🍁

Here is my #Bookspin #Doublespin list for November. I‘m going to shoot for a bingo again.

Photo taken at Blanco State Park in Blanco, Texas last week.

#BookspinBingo

I forgot to post my updated bingo card for October. I manage to get one bingo!

#WeeklyForecast

Happy Belated Halloween to all! I made the graphic earlier. 🙂

I‘m keeping it simple this week as I read a lot in October. I can feel the urge to watch over read for a bit as I haven‘t pick up a book since Friday, lol.

Red Hands is up because I have hit the maximum renewals number at the library. I‘m jumping on the CRH train since so many people have posted about her books recently. #BlameItOnLitsy

#BookReport

I read quite a bit this week because I was off for a few days.
I really enjoyed #Screamathon again this year. I love horror all year round but it‘s nice to put a focus on it. Thank you @4thhouseontheleft 🎃

Four teens are at a beach house for a few days. There is a local boy behaving oddly. After each night there is evidence that the sea is getting closer to the house and there are foot prints where they shouldn‘t be. This was enjoyable, but not as scary for me as the cover might indicate. Everything says this is 99 pages but it felt a lot shorter than that. #Screamathon

I hate to bail on books, but I was bored and uninterested in this one. I liked the main character, Esther, who loves Halloween and is not ready to give up trick-or-treating, but I found the story dull overall. Also, some of the adults were a bit odd. #Screamathon

Where did Saturday go? #Screamathon Review Catch Up

I totally picked this up based on the cover and title. A Hollywood crew has come to the island for the summer to film a movie about a shark. 🦈 There is a youth film contest as well. Gayle and her new friends, Elijah and Maddie, set out to uncover the island‘s own secret shark story and win the prize money. I enjoyed this one. It was a little dark and the ending was a little rushed.

I love this one! Penelope is a freaking adorable T. Rex. The story is so funny, but has a great message. ❤️🦖 I have put the second book on hold now, plus a few more by Higgins.

This is an adorable Halloween book. I love the illustrations and how on some pages the orange was metallic. I put the rest of the Ollie series on hold at the library.

I really enjoyed this one. It‘s an enemies to friends story and fun Halloween read. I love the illustrations. #Screamathon

You know how you pick up some books and they turn out to be exactly what you want right then but you didn‘t know? That‘s what Kill Creek was for me. I was creeped out and absorbed. I stayed up late reading one night and had to watch a YouTube video before I went to sleep. I stopped reading it before bed, lol. I felt invested in the characters and what would become of them. I thought it was perfect for #Screamathon and really enjoyed it.

I enjoyed the message of the story, but I‘m not sure I love the art all the way through this one. I get what the author was doing with it, just didn‘t love it.

After 427 days of asking, a boy‘s parents agree to let him adopt a cat. When they bring the cat home everyone is unhappy that he isn‘t a cuddly cat who purrs a lot, but the boy believes the cat will come around. This is cute, but I love cats. I also really liked the ending and the note from the author.

It‘s 1983 and Camp Sweetwater is reopening after mysteriously shutting down decades ago. Corryn and Tez realize there are strange things happening at the camp. They quickly ban together to figure out what‘s going on. This was fun and I may pick up the next one. My only issue was I couldn‘t figure out why the authors chose to make their two counselors British and jerks. It just seemed out of place and a little rude of the authors. #Screamathon

#WeeklyForecast late edition

I actually finished Camp Murderface before bed last night, but I had already made the graphic. 🙂

I hope to read Kill Creek pretty quickly as it‘s due back at the library soon and others are waiting for it.

#BookReport

I have really been enjoying all my reads for #Screamathon this year. Amara was definitely my favorite of the 3 children‘s books. If you are looking for fun, Ham Helsing fits the bill. I also loved the other 3 books that I completed.

Honestly, I still have the creepy-crawly feeling after reading this one, but it was so much fun. This is a short read full of terrifying bugs and gore. I even looked up some of the bugs to find out if they were real. (shudders) #Screamathon

This is another pick from a @Reggie review. I bumped it up after he discussed it with @ReadingEnvy on her latest podcast episode.

A number of Henry‘s books have been on my TBR for a long time, but I bumped this one up after @Reggie posted a great review a few months ago.
Mattie has only known the mountain and William for the last 12 years. The looming threat of an unknown creature and three hikers in search of it will bring out the truth and change everything. This was a really gripping book and if I could I have I would have read it in one day. #Screamathon

According to GR, it‘s been 5 years since I read The Monstrumologist, the first book in this series and I regret that. I listened to most of this on audio and highly recommend it. In book 2, Pellinor Warthorpe and his assistant, Will Henry, are after the Outiko or Wendigo. This is a YA series, but it is dark and gory and this one had some heartbreak. Warthorpe and Will both get quite a bit of character development in this one. 💗 #Screamathon

I loved this middle-grade graphic novel. Ham is a hero we can all root for and the friends he makes on this adventure are the best. Plus, there is an evil chicken. 🐓I laughed out loud numerous times and I look forward to the next installment. #Screamathon

Brunhilda loves to cause trouble and make others miserable each day. One night her cat casts his own spell and Brunhilda wakes up on the right side of bed. Everything is opposite. She cast spells that make others happy and realizes that being kind is better than her previous behavior. The illustrations are cute and I loved the cat.

The illustrations are cute. I enjoyed looking at what the goblins were up to on each page, but for some reason I didn‘t love this one.

Amara has a passion for bats, but when her family moves, the nearby park doesn‘t have any bats. Amara, inspired by real child activists like Greta Thunberg, motivates her new classmates/friends to make the park bat-friendly. I loved the story and all of the facts included at the end.

Pictured: The background is part of the front endpapers. The real life bat is the world‘s smallest bat called the Kitti‘s hog-nosed or bumblebee bat. 📷: Google

#BookReport #WeeklyForecast combo

I enjoyed all of my finished books for last week. I‘m definitely going to finish all of my current reads this week. I forgot to include the book for this week‘s #Screamathon challenge, which is Little Witch.

I‘m super behind on Litsy so I will also be catching up with everyone‘s feeds. ❤️

This collection of short stories is dark, gritty and unsettling, but so good. Argentina‘s past and present are a large part of the stories. I can‘t wait to read her new collection even as I‘m still thinking about these stories. #Screamathon

@Reggie Thank you so much for sending this one to me. I‘m sure I will go back and read them again. 🙂

I have seen mixed reviews for this book, but it hit the creepy mark for me. I highly recommend the audio if you pick it up.
In 1959, all of the residents of Silvertjarn, except a dead body hanging on a pole and an infant, found alive, disappear. Now, Alice and four other documentary crew members return to the old mining village to find out what happened. The story unfolds flipping back and forth between 1959 and now.

I love the Tiny T. Rex series and this was another adorable entry. Tiny, Pointy, and friends share the best tips for trick-or-treating, remind us to say thank you, and to share our treats. #Screamathon

Ethan finds a note under his bed from his monster, Gabe, that says he has gone fishing and won‘t be back for a week. How will Ethan get to sleep without his monster under the bed?
This was really cute. I love the idea that the child needs the monster under his bed to keep him there and help him sleep.

#Screamathon

Cassidy can see ghosts and step behind the veil after a near-death experience. Along with her best friend, Jacob, who is a ghost, she finds out there is more to her ability while visiting Edinburgh. I enjoyed this spooky middle grade novel and will hopefully get to the next one this month. #authoramonth

#Screamathon

#WeeklyForecast

I started Near the Bone last week, but was consumed by Dracula. I will definitely need to pick up another audiobook as City of Ghosts isn‘t very long. Things We Lost In the Fire is for this week‘s #Screamathon prompt. Hopefully, I can get to others as well. #neverenoughtime

#BookReport

All 4 books were picks this week, especially TMWDT.

Dracula took up more of my time than I thought so I didn‘t finish all the books on last week‘s forecast.

I picked the 1931 version of Dracula with Bela Lugosi for my #scarepair for week 1‘s #Screamthon challenge, because I hadn‘t seen it. It‘s not much of a scare, lol. It‘s only 75 minutes long so a lot of the book was left out and also a couple of main characters. Harker doesn‘t go to Transylvania, Renfield does. Dr. Seward is Mina‘s father in the movie. There are several other changes.

I can finally take Dracula off of my TBR!!!!
I read and listened to the novel. I enjoyed it overall. At times it dragged a bit and I think that had more to do with already being so familiar with the story. I did think it was sometimes a bit repetitive and it felt like most of that came from Van Helsing. I loved the format of diary entries and letters though.
I included Count von Count in my graphic because every time I mentioned Dracula ⬇️

I‘m not even going to try and summarize the mystery. Osman‘s second book is even better than the first. I love Joyce, Ibrahim, Elizabeth, and Ron, along with Donna, Chris, and Bogdan. I think I would spend time with these characters while they did almost anything. I highly recommend the audiobook and that you read them in order. I can‘t wait for the next one!

This was cute. Betty is excited for her first day of school as a first-grade witch until her classmates start picking on her for being small. She decides to prove herself by winning the class‘s Halloween race.

#Screamathon

Not every tree on the tree farm wants to be a festive tree or even likes people (so relatable). I loved this grumpy tree. This story is sweet and heartwarming, and the illustrations are adorable.
#screamathon

#WeeklyForecast

The Man Who Died Twice is my current audio book and City of Ghosts will be next.
I want to complete Dracula so I can watch one of the films for this week‘s #Screamathon challenge.
Near The Bone is my #Bookspin this month.
The two children‘s books are due back on Tuesday so they will definitely get finished.
I‘m not sure if I will get to They Come At Night or if my mood will change. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Here is my #BookReport for last week.

Someone Like Me was an okay children‘s book.
TLD took some time, but was so worth it.
Prince & Knight and I Am Jazz are both banned/challenged children‘s books. #bannedbooksweek
Schomburg is a children‘s book about an important figure I didn‘t know.
The Venue was bloody.