3.5/5

A short, steamy holiday romance. Shae is looking to start dating again after her divorce and matches with her former co-worker, Aidan on a dating app.

#AVeryMerryBingo @Jadams1776 - Let It Snow
#Wgwordsearch - 76
#TeamGameSleighers #WinterGames2021 @StayCurious

A little evening reading and chilling with assistance from my cat Dora who would never dream of missing an opportunity for a lap nap.

#WinterGames2021 #WinterGames #TeamGameSleighers #FestivePhotoChallenge @StayCurious

1. The Holiday Swap by Maggie Knox and Wrapped by Rebekah Weatherspoon

2. My TBR is 50% festive reads this month. I'm planning on reading The Matzah Ball by Jean Meltzer after I finish The Holiday Swap

3. Planning to watch A Castle for Christmas with @rachelsbrittain this weekend.

#weekendreads

1. @carlthecattt
2. @Lynnsoprano
3. @dainarmb
4. @thespineview
5. @laugherhp
6. @Bookworm54
7. @PuddleJumper
8. @peanutnine
9. @galueth28
10. @StayCurious

#WinterGames2021 #WinterGames #TeamGameSleighers

4/5

This book was fascinating. It chronicles the journey from the time when women were warned not exercise at all lest their uterus fall out to the boutique fitness classes of today. The book primarily focuses on American women. It was very interesting to see how the culture of a specific tied in with exercise culture.

#netgalley

Five years ago I walked into a Pure Barre studio for the most predictable of reasons: I was getting married.

Loving this history of women's fitness in the U.S. so far.

#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl

My December #bookspinbingo is all set up with The Matzah Ball as my #bookspin and Meet Me in the Margins as my #doublebookspin.

Also going to say my journal spread for the month is red and white and call this today's #FestivePhotoChallenge

@TheAromaofBooks @StayCurious #WinterGames2021 #WinterGames

4/5

This is a super cute, super short Christmas, regency romance. Chloe plays a Christmas Eve trick on an earl who doesn't like her, and finds that perhaps she's misunderstood the earl's feelings all along.

#AVeryMerryBingo @Jadams1776 - Last Christmas
#Wgwordsearch - 42 (Christmas Eve was on nearly every page)
#TeamGameSleighers #WinterGames2021 @StayCurious

Gotta start December off right with a pair of Christmas socks.

#WinterGames2021 #WinterGames #TeamGameSleighers #FestivePhotoChallenge @StayCurious

November was my best #bookspinbingo yet with 4 bingos!

@TheAromaofBooks #bookspin #doublebookspin

3/5

It was an interesting look at some of the strange things humans have used as medicine throughout history. The tone is generally light and humorous, but I thought it was kind of jarring when the book was discussing the more horrifying treatments of the past. It kind of made those parts of the book even more horrifying by trying to keep the tone light.

4/5

This is such a wonderful reimaging of Little Women. Set during the Civil War, the March sisters are recently freed Black women. The novel captures the heart of Little Women while telling it's own story. It was a very wonderful read.

I've got my December #bookspinbingo list ready to go (assuming I manage to finish the two books I'm at 75% read today). It'll also double as my #WinterGames2021 TBR.

@TheAromaofBooks #bookspin #doublebookspin
@StayCurious #TeamGameSleighers

I'm doing some TBR planning for all the fun December book bingos. I'm planning to participate in the December #bookishbingo and @Jadams1176 #AVeryMerryBingo.

#teamgamesleighers @staycurious #WinterGames2021

4/5

This is a a sweet sequel that picks up where The Simple Wild left off: Calla making the permanent move from Toronto to Alaska to be with Jonah. I like that it really dug in to the difficulty of changing your life in such a major way and how we got to see Calla and Jonah's relationship grow once they've decided that this is what they want.

4/5

I don't know yet whether or not the advice in this book will actually be helpful, but it certainly has me feeling slightly more prepared to have a baby in a few more months. A lot of the framing of the advice as “ancient wisdom“ felt pretty dated, but it is a 13 year old book at this point. It seemed fairly practical, and I image I'll return to it as a reference in the future.

1. So Many Beginnings by Bethany C. Morrow and The Happiest Baby on the Block by Harvey Karp

2. The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones

3. My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones, Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger, and Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse are all on my TBR right now.

#weekendreads @rachelsbrittain

4/5

This is a wonderful collection of Mary Oliver's poems across her lifetime. With all her work, her awareness of the world around her makes me want to pay more attention to the world around to see the beauty in the every day. The collection contained some of my favorite poems and many that I hadn't read before.

4/5

I read this before realizing there was a 2nd novel between Simple Wild and Forever Wild, so I was a little confused about many of the side characters, but I still really enjoyed getting to see where Jonah and Calla end up as they continue their lives together.

5/5

I picked this up after hearing it was similar to It Happened One Summer and definitely agree, if you love one of these books you'll love the other. After finding out her estranged father has lung cancer, Calla returns to the Alaskan wilderness for the first time since she was 2 to get to know the man. She immediately butts heads with one of her father's employees, gruff bush-pilot Jonah.

A little audio baking in preparation for tomorrow.

4/5

This is a fascinating book. Greenwood chronicles the experiences of couples who become romantically involved when on member of the couple is currently in prison. She pushes back against the stereotypes and assumptions that are made about the people who enter into a relationship with someone in prison, and shows the lives of those who pursue a relationship against a system that is not particularly conducive to maintaining relationships.

3.5/5

This is a sweet, low heat romance. Jessie Kim moves back to Nashville after her life on Wall Street falls apart. She rekindles both feelings for and competition with her middle school rival, Daniel Choi, who is also temporarily back in Nashville. I really loved reading about Jessie starting a cooking brand with her Mom and would have happily read even more about their relationship and business.

I've seen some posts asking for holiday themed reading recs for #WinterGames2021 or just for general December reading fun. I'm going to be making a post on Unassigned Reading list next week with a more curated list of holiday romances, but I thought those looking for recs might find my full list useful. I'm trying to limit my Dec bookspin to just 10 titles from this list, but we'll see if that happens.

#WinterGames #TeamGameSleighers @StayCurious

1. So We Meet Again by Suzanne Park, The Happiest Baby on the Block by Harvey Karp, and So Many Beginnings by Bethany C. Morrow

2. I love pumpkin everything

3. The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling

#weekendreads @rachelsbrittain

I can't wait to start working on this #newyearwhodis list from @Johanna414. I've already read and loved Mexican Gothic, The Heart Principle, and The Girl With All the Gifts. Black Sun has been on my TBR list for a while now, so I'm hoping this is the push I finally needed to get it read. Now I've just got to figure out which ones I'll actually try to get a hold of to read in January.

Thanks @monalyisha for organizing! #NYWD22

5/5

Reid's life is on the cusp of major changes as she has to decide what direction her future will go in a future where climate change has made life as we know it impossible. The language is beautiful, and I love that the entire novella is set in the spot before the hero decides to embark on her journey and that in this novella, her decision whether or not to embark is the journey.

5/5

I could not put The Hard Sell down once I started reading. It documents how the company Insys inappropriately marketed their fentanyl based pain killer, Subsys, to doctors (including bribes and kickbacks) and encouraged those doctors to prescribe Subsys inappropriately to patients. I think anyone who found Bad Blood fascinating, will be similarly interested and horrified by The Hard Sell as well.

2/5

This is an odd, but fun read. Spiner writes a fan fiction of his own life very loosely based on an experience he had with a stalker. While the events of the book are fictional, it does communicate some truths about Spiner and his experience with celebrity. I imagine bigger Star Trek fans would understand more references and enjoy this more than I did.

@TheAromaofBooks #bookspin #doublebookspin #bookspinbingo

3/5

This is a cute friends to lovers romance. Declan and Avery are forced to re-evaluate their friendship after Declan takes care of Avery while she recovers from a car accident that left her with a broken arm and leg. I enjoyed the first two thirds or so of the book, but I felt like the main conflict was entirely Declan's fault and it made it hard for me to root for him for the last bit of the book.

1. The Annual Migration of Clouds by Premee Mohamed and When Sparks Fly by Helena Hunting

2. The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling

3. I just cleared them all out with A Lot Like Adios by Alexis Daria last week, so I need start getting more on the list again.

#weekendreads @rachelsbrittain

3.5/5

Eloquence of the Sardine mixes history, science, and language to express the wonder of sea creatures. You can't help but feel more awe for ocean species in general after reading this book as it talks about various fish, corals, dolphins, and whales.

#bookspin #doublebookspin #bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks

#newyearwhodis is always a highlight of my January reading. Thanks to @monalyisha for continuing to put this event together!

4/5

A super sweet book following Mitch and April. April's whole life has been about raising her daughter and protecting herself from hurt and judgement. Now that her daughter is leaving for college she has to figure out what's next in her life.

#NewYearWhoDis is my favorite mini reading challenge every year. Every year one of the books on my list ends up on my list of favorites for the next year. I love that I start every January out reading great, new to me books.

@monalyisha

1. The Eloquence of the Sardine by Bill François and The Annual Migration of Cloud by Premee Mohamed

2. Excel for general tracking, goodreads/litsy for my TBR and reviews, and StoryGraph for reading challenges

3. Maybe this Christmas by Susannah Nix (putting together a festive December TBR)

#weekendreads @rachelsbrittain

Have I ever successfully completed a reading challenge other than #LitsyAtoZ? No. But that won't stop me from signup for all the 2022 reading challenges. I really do love challenges because they encourage me to read great books that I wouldn't have prioritized on my TBR otherwise. I've never done #Booked2022 before, but the prompts seem fun, so I'll give it a try next year.

@cinfhen @4thhouseontheleft @barbarathebibliophage.

The boulder was so high that I had to take off my beach shoes so as not to slip while I climbed.

#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl

4/5

Another great book in this series. Childhood friends, Michelle and Gabe are both feeling stuck in their lives. When they re-enter each other's worlds, they're both forced to really look at their lives and what they really want.

4/5

A super cute, witchy romance. When Vivian was 19 she accidentally cursed her ex Rhys, now eight years later they have to work together to save both Rhys and Vivian's town from the deadly curse she unknowingly unleashed.

4/5

This was a super interesting overview of the history and origins of different disease epidemics throughout history. I learned a lot not only about the diseases themselves, but how medicine has progressed through history to combat disease.

Signed up for #WinterGames2021 for some litsy holiday fun this year.

@clwojick @StayCurious

I've done a couple different litsy holiday swaps the past couple of years, but this year #jolabokaflodswap feels my speed, so that's what I've signed up for.

@MaleficentBookDragon

November's #bookspinbingo is ready to go with Eloquence of the Sardine by Bill François as my #bookspin and Fan Fiction by Brent Spiner as my #doublebookspin.

Thanks to @TheAromaofBooks for organizing this each month and helping me seriously tackle my TBR this year.

I got so close to multiple bingos this month, but I'm glad to have managed one at least.

@TheAromaofBooks #bookspin #doublebookspin #bookspinbingo

Despite very little advanced planning, I managed to get one bingo for #OctoberBookBingo

@rachelsbrittain

Got my November #bookspinbingo ready to go!

@TheAromaofBooks #bookspin #doublebookspin

1. Patient Zero by Lydia Kang and Nate Pederson

2. The Dating Dare by Jayci Lee

3. I wanted to do pregnant 1970s Wanda from WandaVision, but didn't manage to get it done in time.

#weekendreads @rachelsbrittain

4/5

I really liked how the graphics added to the text through a mixture of illustration and photography. I thought it really brought the subject matter to life and made for a quick, engaging read. I thought it was a little weird how it referred to Trump as “an American president“ and the focus only on European democracies, but those were things that were done in the original edition as well and aren't just specific to the graphic edition.

History does not repeat, but it does instruct.