Welcome to Litsy!

Finished my first book of 2026!
Maggie (a mystery writer) is invited to a mysterious location for Christmas. Ethan (a mystery/thriller writer) is also invited too. When they meet, sparks fly and hatred runs deep. The first night at the mystery location - the house owner disappears from a locked room. A winter storm blows in, the power goes out and a mystery needs solving. Who can Maggie trust? Who can survive till Christmas?
📗📘📕📒

I‘ve had this for over a year so thought I‘d start it before new year!

Thank you to @TheEllieMo for continuing the tradition! My favorite book of January was this ridiculous rom-com/mystery. It may have been a little anticlimactic to read a holiday book in January (library holds!), but I enjoyed it a lot anyway. #12booksof2025

3✨ This was a fun Christmas mystery! We have a well known mystery writer, her family, and really smart detective type people in one house for the holidays. When the writer goes missing it‘s up to the mystery solvers to find out what happened. The romance in it was fun too. I really liked the dialogue between the two MCs where I laughed out loud a few times.

#CurrentListen

Update: Done! This one was fun! And I‘m a sucker for a guy who really loves a woman (Think Roarke and Eve).

Thanks to @monalyisha for organizing one of my favorite Litsy events #AuldLangSpine! This year I‘m paired with @Mollyanna whose list I LOVE! I already read and enjoyed 1, 5, 13 and 16. Number 4 has been on my TBR for a year and I‘m eager to read it in January! Numbers 12 and 15 are in the middle of new-to-me series, so I borrowed book 1 of each from the library and am so intrigued! There are others that look good but I‘m starting with these 3! 💗

It seemed like the perfect time to finally get around to this one! (I‘m also putting it out into the universe so as to be held accountable - 2026 will be the year of actually reading my piles of backlogged BOTM picks. 😅) #themostwonderfulcrimeoftheyear #allycarter #botmpick

This was romcom mixed with mystery. Mystery writers Maggie Chase and Ethan Wyatt get invited to Eleanor Ashley‘s English estate for Christmas. Eleanor Ashley is 81 and the most famous mystery writer of all time with 99 books. The very night they arrive, Eleanor disappears. There is a blizzard, the bridge is out and there is a mansion full of suspects. This was ok. It was cutesy. Aside from a few moments it didn‘t grab me. A low pick.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year” was a super cute Christmas read that was filled with humor, sweet romance, and an engaging mystery. I loved Maggie and Ethan‘s story and I cannot recommend this book enough!

I‘m going to end up rereading this every December. I loved it last year and I loved it just as much this year (but I do need to read it early enough in the year to be able to add it to my Auld Lang Spine list. 😂). I love the main characters, the writing, and the locked room mystery. I wish the others characters were a bit more fleshed out, but the focus really is on Maggie and Ethan, so Ally Carter is forgiven.

Just one??? Okay. But actually it's not okay. I have to tag a few more in the comments.

#SundayFunday @BookmarkTavern

This book was such a win. A locked-room mystery, enemies to lovers rom-com set during the holidays. I enjoyed all aspects of this story. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I enjoyed this one!

1st @theallycarter
3/3 read from @tbrgirlies_bookclub TOTM

I listened to this one over audio. It was a fun, easy listen. The mystery of as fun. It was a good book to get into the holiday spirit. Favorite quote/statement “she wanted to find a corner to hide & read her purse book.”

Love love love

Really fun enemies to lovers rom-com, closed-door mystery! The love story is easy to root for and full of chemistry. I started it just after the holidays and it is really cozy! I rarely read physical books anymore so this took me a while to finish as I lean towards audio mostly. But I would read another Ally Carter!

This was so much fun! A locked room rom-com mystery (who knew that was a thing?). I enjoyed the interactions between the two MCs, the locked room mystery and the relationship mystery. I‘ll definitely try another Ally Carter novel.

This was tons of fun. Enemies to lovers was excellently done.

Some of the writing was a bit confusing so I had to reread some parts, but I loved both MC's and I really loved the ending. I recommend this one.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
03.15.2025

The tagged book isn‘t necessarily going to be one of my favorite books for the year, but it‘s my favorite for the month. #wrapup

This was a cozy crime mystery, that was pretty cheesy overall. The romance was cringe. The mystery itself was kind of fun though. I always want to like books like this and then just don't.

This mystery was perfectly fine. A locked room mystery with two writers as main characters, which sounds fantastic, but the writing was just clunky at times. The mystery was fun, it was just something with the characterization that didn‘t quite click. 3⭐️

Who needs Benoit Blanc when you have Maggie and Ethan? Will they find #lastinglove or … something else? #25alive

#SundayFunday @BookmarkTavern

The tagged was my first completed book this year. I loved it and absolutely recommend it!! 💙📚💙

Loved it! I really enjoyed the format and the characters in this one. Loved how it blended the locked room mystery and forced proximity romance in a remote location, with the added bonus of being surrounded by lots of dangerous elements, hidden tunnels, and a twisty maze. Great characters, intriguing mystery, and clean but steamy romance.

#mystery #romance

#WeeklyFavorites

Loved this one!!

#12Booksof2024 Day 12

My favorite book of December was The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year, which I read with #LittensLoveRomance . @StayCurious

Thanks for hosting, @Andrew65 ! This is such a fun tradition. 😃

#12DaysofChristmas

Tagged was my favorite of December. Highly recommend this fun holiday read.

@Andrew65

#12booksof2024 December favorite
@Andrew65

Good read.

I definitely see what all the hype is about. I loved this one. I‘ve read some Ally Carter before but this one has me adding more to my TBR.

#BookSpinBingo #readyourTBR #ISpyBingo #BookChain2025

Was there even a crime? Was someone trying to kill someone? Or was it just a game? Two American authors are invited to a famous elderly author‘s estate for Christmas and she goes missing. Then someone tries to shoot Maggie, and kidnaps her to boot. Maggie, who hates the other invitee Ethan, must rely on him to help figure out what‘s going on. Until it looks like he‘s in on it too. The weather has shut down travel, phones, and finally the ⬇️

Finishing up this book this weekend! I already have quite a few books I want to try this month after this 😅📚 but I‘m actually pretty excited about reading again!

My final #WeeklyFavorites for 2024.

Fourth Wing and the tagged book were both a great way to wrap up a reading year.

@Read4life

It's past Christmas, but I really don't want to wait until next December to read this book, so I'm doing it now.🎄😉

What a fun Christmas romp! I love a locked room mystery and one with humour? Sign me up for more. I need to read Ally Carter's backlist ASAP.

My final book for #wintergames done!! Reviews to come, points to tally

#xmaschacha #wintergames @StayCurious

Absolutely adored this book! Such a great locked room mystery with the perfect enemies to lovers romance!
Glad to have read this with the #littensloveromance crew and it was also one of my #castthedie picks @StayCurious @PuddleJumper
#WinterGames2024 #HolidayBookDragons @LiseWorks
#CozyChristmas

December wrap up
Lots of good reads this month, the tagged is my favorite

#WinterGames24 #HolidayBookDragons @LiseWorks Total Pts 690

I quite enjoyed this, although I was hoping it was set more in the past (based on the fun feel of the cover, I thought it might be 1930-1950 Cary Grant/Katherine Hepburn type rom com).

I saw rave reviews, so I thought I‘d try to squeeze in this last audiobook for the year.

#letterM #Christmasatoz #xmaschacha #wintergames @StayCurious #littenlisten @aperfectmjk

I am so glad my library bought enough new copies that I was able to get this before the end of the year. It is delightful and totally worthy of the hype. It‘s the perfect locked-room mystery/rom-com combination I didn‘t know I needed but can‘t believe I‘ve lived without for so long. Entertaining, mad, and fun. I read the whole thing after work today. I simply couldn‘t put it down.

This was such a fun story — lots of classic mystery elements with two intrepid lead characters on the case. Maggie and Ethan each have their own baggage, but they work their way through it as they work their way through the mysterious circumstances that brought them together. Lots of entertaining side characters, and a sweet romance that made the story richer and more fulfilling. A great holiday read!

I forget how fun it is to get so engrossed in a story that you don‘t put it down until it is finished. Short chapters work well for me in that way too. If you‘re looking for another book to sneak in before the new year, this is a good choice. Loved the Knives Out/Rom Com with great female characters. I too would read another with this couple.