My #JolabokaflodSwap gift arrived yesterday! I‘m so excited and so thankful to @KadaGul and the amazing @MaleficentBookDragon 💗🎄

#WinterGames24 #HolidayBookDragons @LiseWorks 2320 total points

Since I couldn't find the Under the Mistletoe, I just tagged my favorite story, although All By My Elf by Olivia Dade is tied for my favs. Sadly, Tessa Bailey almost blew this collection for me. I hated it. The other two stories were fine, but not memorable. Still, the top 2 make this a solid win for me because I adored them so much.

#WinterGames24 #HolidayBookDragons @LiseWorks 3280 total pts

This has been on my tbr for awhile. I have the eArc, the audio, and the physical book that I bought because it came with an adorable snowglobe. so I really made it a priority this Christmas. And it was good, no regrets. It was very snowy and sweet and much less problematic than certain Christmas romance ensemble movies.

#WinterGames24 #HolidayBookDragons @LiseWorks 1090 total pts

This was absolutely lovely! It's exactly what I want in a Christmas novella that isn't romance focused. Warm and cozy, I honestly wish I could have wrapped myself in the quilt the characters come together to make.

My #jolabokaflodswap will be on its way in the morning! To my swapee, I totally forgot to put the card I wrote inside before I sealed it up, so hopefully you‘ll see the sticker on the side. It‘s been a weird week, lol. Thank you for this swap @MaleficentBookDragon - it‘s my all time favorite!

#WinterGames24 #HolidayBookDragons @LiseWorks 880 total pts

I somehow ended up putting the fourth book in this series on hold at the library (I think from a YouTube recommendation), but decided to return it and start at book 1. It was a good start to detective series, although all the more heartbreaking bc you really get to know the victim through flashbacks. Lots of twists and looking forward to the next book!

#WinterGames24 #HolidayBookDragons @LiseWorks 570 total pts

I had one last prompt for my NEWTS challenge, and it was to read a book based on or inspired by Shakespeare, and fortunately this one fit the bill! I've read a few Ian Doescher books, and this one was just as fun as I thought it would be!

#WinterGames24 #HolidayBookDragons @LiseWorks 2440 total pts

Book 4 of a series that I'm really enjoying, and it just happened to be set at Christmas time, which I didn't know when I picked it up last month. :)

#WinterGames24 #HolidayBookDragons @LiseWorks Total Pts 4870

I really loved the concept of this book, and the side characters were amazing... but the two main characters? Unlikeable. Which is a shame because I was supposed to care if they ended up together, and honestly, I would have been fine with them having a tragic jet ski incident like in the movie script.

#GuesstheBook24
#WinterGames24 #HolidayBookDragons @LiseWorks

#WinterGames24 #HolidayBookDragons @LiseWorks 3060 total pts

This was a blast! Set in the tiny town of Demise, North Dakota in the 90s, the characters have to fight to survive after a meteor crash lands with alien worms. But it's not just the infected prairie dogs and deer they have to avoid, soon the townspeople become infected and they have to dodge the local doomsday cult. This was an absolute blast!

#WinterGames24 #HolidayBookDragons @LiseWorks
#ChristmasCheer @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs Day 8: Advent 20pts
I‘ve been using The Bookworm Life by PeanutButterTaco on Etsy for years now, but I‘ve always missed out on the Bookmas advent until this year! Can‘t wait to see what each day brings!

#WinterGames24 #HolidayBookDragons @LiseWorks
#ChristmasCheer @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs Day 7: Lights 20pts
Playing catch up on the tagged book. I do love a Christmas horror. I‘ve got a busy afternoon with a wedding and a holiday party, so just enjoying the reading time while I can!

#WinterGames24 #HolidayBookDragons @LiseWorks 3380 total pts

I love Jenny Hale Christmas books! This one was fairly emotional as it tackled grief, heartbreak, memory loss, infertility, and PTSD, but in the end love and Christmas heal everything in a very Hallmarky way.

#WinterGames24 #HolidayBookDragons @LiseWorks 1980 total pts

We read this for our romance book club, and there was a lot to love! But... so it's second chance romance, however the way the relationship ended the first time was, in my humble opinion, too high a hurdle to ever get over or want to get over. That said, I hope the author returns with another holiday romance based on the Two Turtle Doves dating event!

#WinterGames24 #HolidayBookDragons @LiseWorks
#ChristmasCheer @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs Day 6: Holly 20pts
Thankfully my current #audiobook has some Holly on the cover!

#WinterGames24 #HolidayBookDragons @LiseWorks
#ChristmasCheer @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs Day 5: Reindeer 20pts

Am I taking advantage of all the great audiobook deals? Yes, yes I am. I picked up both volumes, but this was the cuter cover.

#WinterGames24 #HolidayBookDragons @LiseWorks 775 pts

This is my first official Jeneva Rose book, although she's been on my radar for awhile. I was a little bored with the beginning as the book felt more like a romance than a thriller, but the ending more than made up for that! I was expecting some twists, but I didn't see everything coming. Plus this helped me get my 49th state- Wyoming, for my 50 State challenge.

#WinterGames24 #HolidayBookDragons @LiseWorks
#ChristmasCheer @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs Day 4: Decorations 15 pts. I‘ve spent the last few days decorating the cubicles at work, just needs some lights. We do stockings every year, and we just put little gifts in them.

#WinterGames24 #HolidayBookDragons @LiseWorks 845 pts

This has been on TBR for a long time, and I DNFed a few years back, but picked it up again bc it fits a prompt I need for a challenge. This time I did it on audiobook and it did work better, but I didn't really connect with any of the characters. I did like the monster spin on the Lizzie Borden legend though.

#WinterGames24 #HolidayBookDragons @LiseWorks 1320 pts

This was a bit of a tough read because it's based in part on The Little Match Girl. 10 yr old Ronja and her teen sister end up taking over their alcoholic father's Christmas tree lot job. While there are some helpful people, the sisters continue to struggle, and it's just sad and beautiful and heartbreakingly real.

#WinterGames24 #HolidayBookDragons @LiseWorks 1020 pts

This is a little spicier than I usually like to read, so it took a while to get into the story, but eventually the romance entered the storyline and the supporting characters were charming. Not sure I'll continue the series, but for medium spicy girls, you should definitely grab this from KU!

#WinterGames24 #HolidayBookDragons @LiseWorks
#ChristmasCheer @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs Day 3: Jolly 20 pts

I'm tempted to buy this because I love trivia!

#WinterGames24 #HolidayBookDragons @LiseWorks 610 pts

I'm finishing up challenges for the end of the year, and I needed a K-Pop story. Did I go with this one because it was set at Christmas and free on KU? Why yes, yes I did. I'm a huge supporter of loving what you love, and while K-Pop is not my jam, I appreciate the fans. This book very much reads like fanfic, but it had it's cute moments. Just SO MANY characters crammed in.

#WinterGames24 #HolidayBookDragons @LiseWorks Total pts: 1080

This turned out to be a wintry read, which I didn't know going in (I just needed it for my 50 Horror States challenge). This is not a happy read, but it counterbalanced some of the Hallmark movie vibes my other reads and movies give.

#WinterGames24 #HolidayBookDragons @LiseWorks #ChristmasCheer @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs Day 2 Manger 20 pts 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄How cute is this? Fun fact, I have loved the name Mortimer since watching Arsenic and Old Lace.

#WinterGames #HolidayBookDragons @LiseWorks #ChristmasCheer Day 1 20 pts

This series is so much fun! I have a physical copy somewhere, but I'm trying to re-organize all of my books... which means I can't find most of them at the moment.

#WinterGames24 #HolidayBookDragons @LiseWorks 740 pts

My first holiday read is in the books! I'll admit I started with this one bc it fulfills a prompt of having to read a book by someone who has been incarcerated. If you didn't already know, Anne Perry is the pen name for Juliet Hulme, whose crime is portrayed in Heavenly Creatures, and for which she served some time. It's rather fitting that this book is about finding redemption at Christmas.

Getting my #WinterGames24 on with this wintery read. #HolidayBookDragons

Every year at Fountain Bookstore, we all have to pick our Top Ten Books of the year (published in the current year) to share on Small Business Saturday. Here‘s mine, and you can check all of ours on Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/p/DDAY1t_JYKB/?igsh=dDFoejk2OWg1Mncy

Happy Turkey Day!!! lol, this book is a lot spicier than I was expecting!

Trying to finish up some reading challenges before the end of the year- reading this one for PopSugar‘s prompt of a book published 24 years before I was born. Thankfully StoryGraph really makes it easy to track my challenge progress.

Reading this before book club tomorrow. Enjoying some coffee shop ambience on the tv and the Christmas lights. #currentlyreading

Listening to tagged book and enjoying some Christmas ambiance before work this morning. Anyone know if there‘s a #holidaycardswap this year? I signed up for a lovely winter themed one, but I really enjoyed the Christmas one I did last year. Litsy is my cozy holiday home.

My #weeklyfavorites was The Queen of Fourteenth Street, which was a lovely audio play and production that helped me hold onto a little bit of hope. @Read4life

I had to add this one to the database and guesstimate the page number, because it's audio only. I loved this! It's a play written about a real-life actor, director, and producer, who was also a fairly open queer woman in a time where that was not at all acceptable. Eva Le Gallienne worked hard to bring theater to broader audiences, and this audio play focuses on her life and struggle to keep her theater open. So good!

This is an audible only Harrison short story. Not scary, but it still packs a punch. #OctoberReads

Hello, lovely Littens! Long time, no post. Currently reading the arc of newest Ashley Winstead, which is all about the true crime community.

This was an interesting, trippy book and I‘m still not sure about what I read… but we‘re meeting to discuss this tonight for book club so maybe I‘ll get more of it!

My first graphic novel of the month for #TheAmazingReadathon.

Starting on my #PrideMonth reading!

The movie preview looked funny and ridiculous, rumors swirled that Taylor Swift wrote the book, and Libro.FM gave me the audiobook for free, so I made it my first full book of 2024. The book is not funny, the only ridiculousness is the outdated Russian baddies and Nazi gold train plots, and there‘s no way Swift wrote this bland spy novel. It‘s a 2⭐️, but I was mostly bored. #JanuaryReads

I really enjoyed this Christmas romance! It‘s a take on Groudhogs Day trope, but the author avoids being repetitive. The characters are all interesting and funny (or jackassy depending on their role) and it was a great start to the year! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
#JanuaryReads

I had a blast at #WinterGames- just wish I had had more time to play the games and watch movies! I read a lot and I feel good about what I did get done. Thank you to @Clwojick and @StayCurious for hosting this event- it's really made December magical the last few years! I appreciate you both for all you do! And thank you to the #GangstaWrapper's leader, @BookwormJill for a month full of fun and keeping our team in the festive mood and on track!

Phew! Just filling these out took forever! There were lots of boards I didn't get any bingos on, so they aren't here, but these were all the ones I scored bingos on, and a few I even completed. I ended up not watching many movies, so I skipped filling those out.
#WinterGames #GangstaWrappers @Bookwormjill @Clwojick @StayCurious #BingoBoard

Happy New Year's Eve, Littens!
1. Pajamas
2. Stay Up
3. Champagne Flute
4. Couch
5. I'm more socks than slippers, but I am NEVER high heels.

My typical NYE is the Hubs going to bed early (he has a very early morning job so it's just habit) then I have to wake him up around 11:30 so I can make him wear funny glasses and pop the champagne. We also usually eat pigs in the blanket. Tomorrow we'll have to eat sauerkraut for luck as per tradition.

This book was mostly super funny, although he does tackle some sadder moments of working the maternity ward on Christmas- and he gives a trigger warning before one story that would be very much needed for some reader. I think I'm going to read his first book since I enjoyed this one so much.
#WinterGames #GangstaWrappers
@Clwojick @StayCurious @bookwormjillk
#WGWordSearch 1570 pts

A fun sci-fi romp! And it was nice to read something not at all holiday related and to strike it off my tbr.

#WinterGames #GangstaWrappers
@Clwojick @StayCurious @bookwormjillk
#WGWordSearch 750 pts

Perfect Christmas stories for cold winter nights!

#WinterGames #GangstaWrappers
@Clwojick @StayCurious @bookwormjillk
#WGWordSearch 2290 pts

A very lovely romance with a cinnamon love interest who rocks a kilt. I love a hot guy in a kilt. I really need to buy the Hubs one...

#WinterGames #GangstaWrappers
@Clwojick @StayCurious @bookwormjillk
#WGWordSearch 2080 ptts