This was my final story in the collection and it was nice! Not my favorite but definitely not the worst…a solid middle of the collection. Not too much to say about it other than the main couple seemed cute together. 🌟🌟🌟💫

This was really cute! It was probably my favorite of these short stories and I enjoyed that our main characters were a little older than average, intellectuals, and the main female wasn‘t stick thin. I also appreciated that it wasn‘t quite as graphic as the other ones. I would have enjoyed a little more development and would have happily read a full length novel with these characters. But as it is it was good! 🌟🌟🌟🌟

My parent have come into town to celebrate the holidays and my mom gave me this adorable book gnome! She comes with little books and even a book worm! I can‘t wait to find the perfect little spot for her ones we take down all the Christmas decorations !

This is EXACTLY what I want in a Christmas story!! History, friendship, good times, hard times, and a dash of romance to give you the warm fuzzies. The characters were realistic and multifaceted and the backdrop to their lives - mostly London and Sandringham - was so lovely. I loved it! 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

This was a sweet, funny holiday time romance that was not always very realistic but was always entertaining. The romance wasn‘t graphic, or instantaneous, and the character development was pretty good considering how short the story is. Again, there are a lot of points that are so far fetched that you kind of have to just go with it, but all in all it was really cute. 🌟🌟🌟🌟

My #JolabokaflodSwap package arrived! Thank you so much @OndinetheSea , I‘m so excited!!!!

@Ddzmini my #LittleChristmasSwap present came in today and OH MY GOD I‘M SO EXCITED!! Thank you so much, I cannot WAIT to open it!!

Like a lot of short story collections some stories were good and some…not so much. A few were quite unique but to be honest most of them just didn‘t really capture my attention. It definitely counts as something different for Christmas reading so that‘s a plus in my book! 🌟🌟🌟

My #jolabokaflodSwap24 package will go out in the next few days (as soon as I can get over to UPS)! I‘m so excited to participate this year, thank you @MaleficentBookDragon

I love Christmas time!! So happy to be participating in the #LittleChristmasSwap #LCS this year and will have my packages out in the mail in the next few days (as soon as I can get to UPS). The outside package is a used Amazon box - I hope that‘s ok, I‘ve never participated in a swap before - but the inside should be pretty 🤣. I‘m not sure if I‘m supposed to tag the recipient @bookish_wookish so let me know and I can add them! Thanks!

Now THIS was a cute Christmas story! Yes, there‘s some romance but it‘s not explicit and it‘s not a main focus of the story. There‘s a literary mystery and a great central plot of renovating an old Paris hotel and opening back up by Christmas that I loved. It‘s a bibliophile‘s dream! 🌟🌟🌟🌟💫

Why do authors write characters that say things that are so uncomfortably weird and unrealistic that I have to physically roll my eyes?! Is it just romance stories? I was enjoying the story until the two characters - who are nearly strangers - just couldn‘t keep their hands off of each other (do none of these characters have will power?) and the woman calls this almost stranger “daddy” along with some other choice words🤢. ⬇️

This was a much sweeter story than the last one I listened to in this series. Two childhood friends get snowed in together and are forced to face their past and the love that‘s always been there. Short, sweet, and funny at times. Not the best character development since it‘s so short but I still enjoyed it. 🌟🌟🌟

This was not for me at..all! At first I thought it seemed like a sweet little short story and then it got sexually GRAPHIC! It felt so unnecessary. This girl just meets a guy, tells him she‘s not looking for anything casual, and then instantly jumps into bed with him and has unprotected sex?! Described in great detail…why?? It completely ruined it for me. I‘m hoping the rest of the stories in this series aren‘t so bad.

So I‘m pulling the plug on this one! I made it 38% of the way through and so far it‘s just boring. Three women go away together to escape the stress of pre-Christmas and volunteer to run a bed and breakfast? And one of the women‘s husbands is a huge jerk and I‘m just sick of reading his perspective. So maybe I‘ll pick it up in the future, but, for now, I‘ve got more interesting books calling to me.

This was devastatingly sad 😭!! If something bad could happen to this kid it did! And the kid was the author himself! Just heartbreaking, but it did have a sweetness to the ending as well. It‘s a beautiful holiday story but it‘s ROUGH to get through. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

This is a solid if predictable Christmas story. It has the large group - some family, some friends, and some unexpected guests - all forced together in close proximity. They fight and make up and all come together to celebrate the holidays by the end. It has most of the usual tropes but did include a few more modern touches; an older female character and a younger love interest, a character with IBS, childhood trauma not often dealt with. ⬇️

Solid enough murder mystery that happens to take place around Christmas. All the characters are unreliable and selfish and hiding something and I enjoyed trying to maneuver through all the lies and misinformation to figure out what was actually going on. I don‘t think I‘ve read anything by this author before but I definitely would! 🌟🌟🌟🌟

So…this was somehow a mystery with absolutely no mystery to it. Its easy to figure out what Molly, our main character, is missing from the very beginning and it ended up just being another simple Christmas romance, which wasn‘t what I was expecting or necessarily wanting from the story. Where was the murder?! That being said it wasn‘t bad, I still enjoyed seeing Molly‘s interpretation of the world. In general just 🤷🏼‍♀️. 🌟🌟🌟

I love Kate Quinn, bar none. I‘ve enjoyed all of her books, and this is no exception. There are a few things that kept it from being a favorite: there are just too many characters (the house is even a character, which I actually liked, but come on) and she tried to fit almost too much cultural and political history into the narrative which made it really long and sometimes hard to keep up with. That all being said her characters were well drawn ⬇️

This unfortunately is a soft pick for me. I loved the 1st and 2nd books in the series but this one felt like pure filler. We get the smallest speckles of previously known and loved characters and the rest is our main character running around trying to seek vengeance. It‘s left on a cliffhanger of sorts and I will definitely be reading any follow ups but it was my least favorite so far. 🌟🌟🌟

I am soooo excited for Beautiful Ugly!!! #BOTM did well this month!!

My December #bookspinbingo list is ready to go!! Clearly I‘m excited to read some holiday stories 🤣. Bring on the jingle bells and egg nog !!!

This took me way longer to read than I was expecting it to! It felt very long but very twisty at the same time. I enjoyed the short chapters and the alternating perspectives. While I didn‘t see all the shocks coming I did figure out the biggest one pretty easily. It just made sense to me 🤷🏼‍♀️. While not a favorite thriller I did enjoy it enough to definitely read more by the author! 🌟🌟🌟🌟

This was good…but it felt loooonnnggg!! It‘s very character driven and there are a lot of names to keep track of and I honestly lost track from time to time and just had to wing it. But it is beautifully written and a tender and heartbreaking story, so I would recommend it for those that love this sort of thing. 🌟🌟🌟🌟

This book was wackadoodle!! I went into it pretty blind and I definitely recommend that. Then you can just sit back and hold on for the crazy ride 🤣. I honestly don‘t even know if I fully understand what I listened to but I definitely enjoyed it. Highly recommend! 🌟🌟🌟🌟

The audiobook version is the way to experience this modern day Lord of the Flies! Taking place at an amusement park in Florida during and immediately following a hurricane, all hell breaks loose when groups of young adult workers are stranded and turn nearly feral. It‘s told in interview format and somehow felt absolutely insane and sadly realistic. It‘s frankly terrifying to think how quickly civilization can fall apart! 🌟🌟🌟🌟

This story was amazing!! It was a balm to this reader‘s soul! Wuthering Heights is one of my favorite books of all time and its author plays a big part in the plot. It has complicated characters that go through some horrendous experiences but books and the magic that keep them alive. Loved it! 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

My new reading tracker came in! I‘ve loved using the 2024 version and they‘ve added tabs for the new year 😍. My little organizing heart is so excited 😆!!

Solid mystery/thriller that had a few surprises in there even if most of it was somewhat easy to predict. Once I realized what was happening the rest easily fell into place. I still enjoyed the ride, mind you, and thought the challenges faced by the main character were really inventive. Enjoyable read! 🌟🌟🌟🌟

I‘m so excited for this swap! Who doesn‘t love books and chocolate?! See @MaleficentBookDragon ‘s page for more information about #jolabokaflodswap and how to sign up.

This audiobook was so much fun! It…was…all…over…the…place!! The twists and turns were epic and it was really fun trying to guess where it was going and what each perspective was actually trying to tell you (I‘m pretty good at guessing and I couldn‘t keep up 🤣). Fast paced, exciting, and definitely entertaining. A 5🌟 thriller for sure!

Guys I‘m gonna participate in a Christmas swap!! It really sounds like fun and I know I could really use something sweet to look forward to (as I‘m sure many could right now). Sign ups for the #LittleChristmasSwap are open until 11/22. Go to @bookish_wookish for more information!

If you want a quick and page turning read you can always rely on Riley Sager! Definitely not my favorite of his but still a solid mystery with that little bit of supernatural I love in his stories. This is one neighborhood where everyone is hiding something! 🌟🌟🌟🌟

You know how you go into a story thinking you‘re reading one thing and it ends up being something completely different? That‘s this book. I thought it was going to be some sort of feel good mystery and it ended up being more of a sci-fi conservationist call to arms. I think the message was awesome, but it just wasn‘t what I was expecting. That being said I enjoyed seeing the main character learn to love life again. Strange but interesting. 🌟🌟🌟

My November #bookspinbingo board is ready to go!

If you‘ve ever wondered what it‘s like behind the scenes of a horror movie, but also wondered what it would be like for the horror to turn real, this is for you! It‘s a little campy and super unrealistic but it‘s a lot of fun (if blood and gore is fun for you like it is for me 😝). Interesting take on a horror story! 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Alright my #skeletoncrew here‘s my total points for #hauntedshelf ! I didn‘t turn in my points halfway so this is the total for the whole time. I wish I could have participated more but it was a pretty crazy/crappy month. I had fun, though! Thank you @Emilymdxn for being a great leader!

This one started out rough. I was a little confused on what was actually happening, but once it clicked for me and the slasher pattern came through I really started to enjoy it. I love slasher stories and it was really interesting to see it from the “monsters” POV. The writing is quite florid and can be hard to follow but overall the story was unique and entertaining! #hauntedshelf #skeletoncrew

I almost forgot to share my November #bookspinbingo TBR! Lots of leftovers but hopefully I can cross a lot off my list!

I am hugely claustrophobic and this…this story made me incredibly uncomfortable! It did exactly what it was trying to do and kept me on my toes with its cliffhanger chapter endings and unexpected twists. The ending was ok and kind of ambiguous but overall was a solid thriller. 🌟🌟🌟 #hauntedshelf #skeletoncrew

So I‘m not one to typically DNF a book but this one just isn‘t working for me. It‘s way too much romance and not enough paranormal for my liking. I‘ve loved other books by this author but, for now, I‘m putting this one to the side and moving on to hopefully much spookier reads!

I‘m not sure why, and maybe I‘m a little weird, but I LOVED THIS AUDIOBOOK! It was so unique and meta and made me feel a little nuts but I couldn‘t stop listening. I‘m truly not even sure what really happened but the ending was really creepy and I‘ll definitely be thinking about this one for a while! 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 #hauntedshelf #skeletoncrew

I LOVED this!!! I was so surprised by how much I was invested in the story and the friendship at the heart of it. And there are vampires!! What more could you ask for? While the horror aspect really drew my attention the personal struggles of the main character had such a good message by the end that I forgot I was even reading a “scary story”. Highly recommend!! 🌟🌟🌟🌟💫 #skeletoncrew #hauntedshelf

I‘m always in for a scary haunted house story, especially one that might have some sort of tie in with children (spooky!). I will say I found our protagonist kind of annoying with her constant excuses for bad decisions and behavior but I LOVED learning the history of the house and seeing how it‘s past manifested itself in the present. Solid story that kept my attention until the very end! 🌟🌟🌟💫 #skeletoncrew #hauntedshelf

This was a ride! I honestly don‘t know what I‘d do if someone came up to me and told me when and how I‘d die 😳. It was so interesting watching the various characters deal with it in different ways. And the interspersed chapters from the POV of the psychic really added a touching backstory. Well written, interesting concept and characters, and a well rounded ending. 🌟🌟🌟🌟

I saw so many TikTok‘s saying how terrifying this book is and so I really had my expectations up. Did it live up to them? Yes and no. I didn‘t actually find this terrifying in any way, but I did find parts unsettling. It‘s pretty creepy to think about people being able to get into your mind and make you see and hear things. I liked the ending too! Solid horror story! 🌟🌟🌟🌟 #skeletoncrew #hauntedshelf

So I bailed on this one when I tried to read it as a physical book…it was just too slow and I couldn‘t get into it. I wanted to give it another go as an audiobook and I‘m glad I did. While it‘s still not a favorite I did enjoy it more this way. It was still slow but the ending really picked up and I loved the last 25% or so. Read for #hauntedshelf #skeletoncrew

Who wouldn‘t want the ability to communicate with friendly ghosts? Our main character gets to do just that, and all while working in a library!! Dream come true! Well, not completely a dream as there‘s some bad stuff going on too, but still. This was a little longer than it needed to be but I‘m excited to read the next book (since it says Part 1). Read for #hauntedshelf #bookspinbingo and a bunch of other readathons/bingo cards 🤣 #skeletoncrew

Here‘s my recommendation for perfect October spooky season reading! This was such a creepy story, made even more so by the narrator of the audiobook 😳. One of my favorite horror book Ives read in a while. #hauntedshelf #skeletoncrew