December Wrap-Up

 Hello Interwebs!

For the month of December I had a GREAT reading month. I read eight books during the course of the month for a total of 75 books for the whole year. Of the books I read:

• 1 Young Adult Sci-Fi
• 1 Young Adult Contemporary
• 1 Thriller (DNF)
• 1 Memoir
• 1 Biography
• 3 Adult Contemporaries

So on to the books I finished in December. 

• The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness. Read November 25, 2020 to December 1, 2020 and rated it a 3.5/5 stars on GoodReads. This is a young adult science fiction novel and the first book in the Chaos Walking trilogy which is being made into a movie coming out in 2021. It's about a boy named Todd who is the last boy to become a man (turn 13 years old)  in a town populated only by men where everyone can hear everyone else's thoughts. Then he meets a girl named Viola in the woods and Todd is forced to flee with his dog and Viola in tow finding out there's more about his world than he previously thought and that his town has big secrets. I enjoyed this book, it was good especially for a sci-fi novel which isn't exactly my thing and I intend to eventually read the other books in this trilogy. The first book while a little on the longer side was pretty enjoyable and a quick read. 
  
  
  
• Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender. Read December 1 to December 4, 2020 and gave it 5 stars on GoodReads. This is a Young Adult contemporary about a transboy named Felix who has never been in love. While attending a summer art program someone puts up a photo gallery at his school full of pictures of him prior to his transition along with his deadname. Then he starts receiving anonymous hate messages from the same person via Instagram so he comes up with a plan to figure out who it is and get revenge putting him squarely in the middle of  a love triangle. I loved this book. I loved how real of a character Felix was and how much you root for him to figure out who was harassing him as well as finding soemone to love. 
  
  
  
  
• The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware. Started December 4, 2020 and DNF'd on December 7, 2020. This is an adult thriller and I got about 60% of the way through the book before I DNF'd it. It's yet another thriller where the main character is an unreliable narrator with substance issues. I got about 60% done and realized that I don't care about the characters or the mystery, even as the main character is captured and imprisoned on board the ship by the perpetrators. So I looked up the ending online and DNF'd. 
  
  
  
  
• Winter Street by Elin Hilderbrand. Read from December 7-14, 2020 and given a 4 star rating on GoodReads. This is an adult contemporary and the first in Hilderbrand's Winter series. This book follows the Quinn family: Kelley who owns the Winter Street Inn on Nantucket, his wife Mitzi who has just left after he caught her kissing the Inn's Santa Claus, his first wife Margaret who is a national news anchor in New York City; Kelley and Margaret's three grown children Patrick who is a hedge fund manager who is looking at trouble for insider trading, Kevin who is a bartender and in a secret relationship, and Ava who is in the seemingly perfect relationship with a man who won't commit. Also in the periphery is Kelley and Mitzi's son Bart, a US Marine who has been out of contact since his arrival in Afghanistan. After Mitzi leaves Kelley just before the big party everyone bands together to save the party and the holidays. This was a cute, sweet little novel along the lines of Hilderbrand's other books and another reason why she is becoming one of my favorite authors. 
  
  
  
  
• A Girl From Yamhill by Beverly Cleary. Read from December 22-27, 2020 and given a 5 star rating. This is the first of Beverly Cleary's two memoirs, covering the period of time from her birth in the 1910s to just after her high school graduation where she moves in with family in California to attend Junior College. I've read both this and the second volume as a middle schooler/high schooler and loved it then and it holds up. Beverly Cleary is from the same small town area that my family is from and a friend of my mom's from high school (and my nephew's kindergarten teacher) actually lives in the house in Yamhill that Cleary lived in as a child. Her Ramona books were some of my favorites as a child and this book really held up. 
  
  
  
  
• Winter Stroll by Elin Hilderbrand. Read from December 27-28, 2020 and given a solid 4/5 stars. This is the second book in the Winter series and takes place during the Stroll event on Nantucket the year after the events of Winter Street. Once again you follow the Quinn family with big changes and more on the horizon. I enjoyed this one just as much as the first and I read this one in about twelve hours on a night when my son was very fussy. 
  
  
  
•  Queen Victoria: Twenty-Four Days that Changed her Life by Lucy Worsley. Read from December 7-29, 2020 and given a 4/5 star rating. This is a nonfiction book written by historian Lucy Worsley about Queen Victoria in an episodic fashion by focusing on days that were important in her life from her parents' wedding day to her own coronation and wedding. It was a good read and the episodic nature of it made it a little unique for biography. 
  
  
  
  
• Winter Storms by Elin Hilderbrand. Read from December 29-31, 2020 and given 3.5 out of 5 stars. This is the third book in the Winter series. It covers all four seasons in the year following Winter Stroll, still with the Quinn family as they deal with illness and addiction and marriage and changes. I didn't like this one quite as well as the other two books in the series to this point but it was still enjoyable. 
  
  
  
  

And those are all the books that I read in the month of December. My favorite was probably Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender and my least favorite was definitely The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware (hence the DNF). I also bought some books in December and got some others for Christmas. First up, books I bought: 

• Lobizona by Romina Garber (Wolves of No World #1) Amazon ebook
  
  
  
• The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives in Your Home by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor (Welcome to Night Vale #3) Amazon ebook
  
  
  
• Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes; Amazon ebook
  
  
  
• The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison; Barnes and Noble paperback
  
  
  
• In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren; Barnes and Noble paperback
  
  
  
• World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments by Aimee Nezhukumatathil; Barnes and Noble hardcover
  
  
  
• The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins; Book of the Month hardcover
  
  
  
• The Office of Historical Corrections by Danielle Evans; Book of the Month hardcover
  
  
  
• The Chicken Sisters by KJ Dell'Antonia; Book of the Month hardcover
  
  
  
• A Splendid Ruin by Megan Chance; Amazon ebook
  
  
  
• Confessions on the 7:45 by Lisa Unger; Amazon ebook
  
  
  
• The Inheritance Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin (The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms; The Broken Kingdoms; The Kingdom of Gods) Amazon ebook
  
  
  
• The Afterlife of Holly Chase by Cynthia Hand; Amazon ebook
  
  
  
• Tea and Cupcakes: Twelve Book Cozy Mystery Collection by Katherine Hayton; Amazon ebook
  
  
  
• I'm a Therapist, and my Patient is Going to be the Next School Shooter: Six Patient Files that Will Keep You Up at Night by Dr. Harper; Amazon ebook
  
  
  
• I'm a Therapist, and my Patient is in Love with a Pedophile: Six Patient Files from Prison by Dr. Harper; Amazon ebook
  
  
  
• I'm a Therapist, and My Patient is a Vegan Terrorist: Six Deadly Social Media Influencers by Dr. Harper; Amazon ebook
  
  
  
• The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan; Amazon ebook 
  
  
  
• The Lady Upstairs by Halley Sutton; Unplugged Book Box paperback
  
  
  

I also got a handful of books for Christmas from my family (mostly from my boyfriend but also one from my mom and one from my sister-in-law. 

• A Promised Land by Barack Obama; hardcover from my boyfriend 
  
  
  
• Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations by Mira Jacob; paperback from my boyfriend
  
  
  
• Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer; hardcover from my boyfriend 
  
  
  
• Jane Austen boxed Set (Word Cloud Edition) by Jane Austen; collector's softcover boxed set from my boyfriend 
  
  
  
• Kiki's Delivery Service by Eiko Kadono; hardcover from my parents 
  
  
  
• Fangirl, Vol. 1: The Manga by Rainbow Rowell adaptation by Sam Maggs, Illustrations by Gabi Nam; paperback from my sister-in-law 
  
  
  

So those are all the books I read and obtained in the month of December. Coming soon is the whole year wrap-up for 2020 (maybe later today), my preview for 2021 (also in the next day or two), and my preview for January 2021. I hope your holidays were wonderful and you are having a wonderful 2021 so far. 

Happy Reading!

Richelle