I've got a really random mix going this weekend #WeekendReads

If you're looking for a good holiday romance novel this December, these LGBTQ romances are just the thing!

https://bookriot.com/2024-lgbtq-holiday-romance-novels/

An adorable house swap Christmas rom-com with barely any drama. Bea and Clover each need a change of pace for the holidays--but they weren't expecting to fall in love while they were at it! This was such a sweet romance. Definitely a new holiday favorite for me.

A teen with a head full of dark fairy tales struggles with his mental health and a crush on his best friend. But when danger encroachs from the forest, it's only the two of them against a never ending deluge of monsters. This was so wonderfully dark and twisty. Reminded me of Wilder Girls just a bit, and I think it may be the best asexual rep I've ever read! Wasn't totally taken with the ending, which felt abrupt, but it was still incredible.

Here are my picks for the 5 best historical fiction published this year. Are there any others you would add?

https://bookriot.com/the-best-historical-fiction-of-2024/

This adorable witchy Christmas / Yule romance follows a reclusive witch and the human artifact hunter he really shouldn't get involved with. When a spell sends them both back in time, though, they'll have to confront their pent up feelings and figure out how to make it back to the present before their time is up. Super cute, and I had no trouble following it even though it's the third in a series I haven't read.

A second chance romance between two men whose marriage is on the rocks. But will saving Christmas save their marriage too? When they mistake Santa for an intruder, Quinn and Patrick knock him out, leaving the world without a Santa Claus on a Christmas Eve. Now, they'll have to take over to save Christmas. This was a cute read. I especially enjoyed the fantasy aspects of life at the North Pole and all the Santa Claus lore.

Leila, thank you so much for my #StuffedStockingSwap ! The mug and hot chocolate are perfect, and I don't even think I mentioned loving hazelnut but I do! I don't know how I haven't read either of these beautiful fantasy books yet but I'm so excited to have a good reason to now! Can't wait to use all the cute stickers in my journal, too. It's all perfect. Thank you so much @Catsandbooks and thank you @Avanders for putting this swap together!

I'm saving my #stuffedstockingswap package as a treat for once I finish all my work today. So looking forward to opening it tonight! @Avanders

Exes get a second chance in this Sapphic Christmas romance. Charlotte and Brighton haven't talked since the day they were supposed to get married. Now, 5 years later, they've both spending the holidays with friends who happen to be sisters-- and instead of explaining their past, they pretend they don't know each other at all. This wasn't my favorite Ashley Herring Blake romance, but I'm glad she's branched out into the world of holiday romance.

This book was everything I want in a historical fiction book. A young woman in post-WWI England makes a bold new friends running Hazelbourne's Motorcycle and Flying Club who changes her life. It's a book about class and war and pandemics and societal change and feminism and racism/ xenophobia and so many other things. I absolutely adored it.

My #StuffedStockingSwap package arrived today! Can't wait to open it @Avanders

One last wild travel day. I usually get a lot of reading done on airplanes but entertaining a toddler has really gotten in the way of any reading time 😅 ##WeekendReads

I found the beginning of this book a bit too focused on the minutiate of guild functioning and the wool industry in a way I was having trouble getting invested in. But once the relationship between Matti and Luca started to develop that's when things really got interesting. I didn't love this as much as The Last Binding trilogy, but it was still a solid 4 star read.

So excited to be paired up with @Laughterhp for the first time since my first #AuldLangSpine back when it was still called #NewYearWhoDis ! There are a lot of interesting books on the list, including several that were on my TBR. I decided these four will be my top priorities for January. Can't wait to start!

Thanks so much for all your hard work to put this event together @monalyisha ! You're a Litsy rockstar.

What a gorgeous sapphic Beauty and the Beast retelling with fantasy and sci-fi elements. A scholar sacrificed to a dragon realizes her life isn't over when instead of eating her the dragon tells her she will serve as a tutor to her children. But the palace the dragon lives in is a relic of the Vanishers who ravaged this land and left behind deadly diseases. If she's not careful, the dragons may not be the most terrifying thing she faces.

Cant believe its the last #bookspinbingo of the year! I've got a lot of holiday romances on my board to get in the Christmas spirit @TheAromaofBooks

I had so many 5 star reads in November that I filled out both my bonus slots in addition to my Nov pick! James, Hell Folows With Us, and Lucy Undying all made their way to the bracket.

#BookBracket2024 @CSeydel

Told in the voices of the murdered Indigenous women from an El Salvador community, The Volcano Daughters follows sisters kidnapped at the whim of their father, step-mother, and the supernatural-obsessed dictator, El Gran Pendejo. Forced to take part in his regime, the sisters do their best to survive a country determined to erase their Indigenous roots. Heartbreaking and beautiful, revealing a horrifying history I knew nothing about.

The story we learn of Sacajewea glorifies her but leaves out all the horrifying truths about how she came to be on the expedition. As a girl, she's taken and sold to a white man, pregnant with his baby by twelve. Earling's writing is sparse and evocative but may be off-putting for some. I loved how it changed and shifted as Sacajewea was exposed to new people and ideas and languages, though. The writing really brought the story to life.

Playing review catchup today. When their youngest daughter goes missing in Maine during berry picking season, all the members of a Mi'kmaq family are left reeling, with consequences cascading down the years. But they aren't the only ones with questions. Norma has always known her parents kept secrets, but when her mothers worsening dementia reveals the worst one of all, her entire life is brought into question. A haunting read.

If you haven't read this book yet, what are you doing? It's on every best-of list this year for a reason. Jim from The Adventures of Huck Finn, who actually prefers James, finally gets to tell his own story. It's subversive and brilliant. Read it.

My cozy #WeekendReads . Things are finally getting wintery in Arkansas so I am staying bundled up this weekend.

A wintery new #WeekendReads !

My #StuffedStockingSwap package is on its way @Avanders

My favorite reading event of the year! #AuldLangSpine @monalyisha

Check out Book Riot's Best Books of 2024, and scroll down for my pick, The Stars Too Fondly. How many have you read? How many are on your tbr? I'm curious.

https://bookriot.com/best-books-2024/

The younger Christmas Prince is forced to make nice with obnoxious prince of St. Patrick's Day when some of Christmas's joy is stolen. If only Loch didn't barrel right through all of Kris's carefully built defenses of diplomacy and politeness. It's enemies to lovers yall, what can I say? Then drama felt a little more contrived at the end than in the first book, but I'm still thoroughly enjoying these royal holiday rom-coms!

I've been jumping between a lot of books recently (this isn't even all of them) but I'm primarily focusing on The Lost Journals of Sacajewea and The Fox Maidens today #WeekendReads

A new #WeekendReads background for November. Whatcha reading?

Coffee shop reading

Went to pick up a bunch of holds from the library (research for some BR end of the year lists) and couldn't help snagging one bonus book and checking out the gorgeous new art they've added in a recent (and on-going) remodel

When Coal, heir to the Christmas throne, is forced into an engagement with his best friend, the Easter Princess, he doesn't see any option other than to go along with it. Then he meets the Halloween Prince. What an adorable fantasy holiday romance. I love an ovwrdramatic king, and Coal is that on steroids. Obsessed with this book and the whole premise of holiday royals so much that I'm already reading the sequel.

The story of Lucy Westenra didn't end when she was turned into a vampire-- it was only beginning. This sapphic retelling alternates between diary entries from Lucy's time as a human, interviews about her past as a vampire, and the modern day perspective of Iris Godalming. Having just read Dracula for the first time, I loved how White re-intrepreted things and explained certain plot holes. An outstanding retelling.

I devoured this book. Quite literally couldn't stop reading it. A trans boy living in a dystopian society terrorize by an evangelical eco-fascist cult called The Angels is being turned into an instrument of destruction-- but when he runs away he realizes he gets to choose whose destruction be becomes. The body horror in this book fits so horrifyingly perfectly. I feel like I could gush about Hell Followed With Us for ages.

Rainy day reading withmy girl 📚

Thought I'd do better but at least I got one #OctoberBookBingo !

A Dowry of Blood was my favorite October read, but I'll be surprised if it doesn't come down to The Stars Too Fondly and Sorcery and Small Magics for my top read of the year. Considering I've already picked one for Book Riot's Best Books of 2024 (you'll just have to wait and see which), that's probably pretty telling 😅 But you never know, there are 2 months and many good books left that could surprise me.

#BookBracket2024 @CSeydel

I finished 7 books, 4 comics / graphic novels, DNF'd one book, and am currently reading three other books. I had hoped to get through several more Halloween appropriate reads this month but there's no good reason I can't read them in September except my brain being weirdly rigid about these things sometimes.

Two almost-bingos this month! I didn't finish my bookspin, Immortal Dark or Dracula but I'll add them to my list for November. It's probably going to be an even mix of spooky books I didn't get to in October and Christmas-y books as I start to get into the winter holiday spirit. #bookspinbingo

@TheAromaofBooks

I'm obsessed with this book and you should be too:

https://bookriot.com/sorcery-and-small-magics-by-maiga-doocy/

I have too many books I'm trying to finish before the end of the month but at least I get to read this one with a snuggly baby today

Lots of seasonally appropriate books going this weekend for #WeekendReads

A haunted house story unlike any other. Ezri moved to England to escape the house they grew up in. But now all 3 Maxwell siblings have to return to the house that still haunts them in order to move on. But is the house really haunted--or is something else going on? Every trigger warning imaginable on this one. The exploration of trauma and sibling relationships was expertly done, and the twist at the end took me truly and horrifyingly by surprise.

My #WeekendReads

My sister's cat looks so grumpy here but she was actually living her best life and also helping with my cramps while I got in a bit of reading before my nephews woke up

A health resort horror story? Sounds like exactly my cup of tea. Yet at 40% in, I think I finally need to admit defeat and DNF this book from a Nobel Prize winning author. I'm bored to tears. The premise reimagines The Magic Mountian by Thomas Mann, and men at a sanatorium for tuberculosis spend their time discussing their bad philosophies about women. I get that it's parody, but I'm just so bored. And where's the horror? This one wasn't for me.

Any other Spooky Lake Month fans here on litsy? This was a great way to take the tiktok series to book form. Geo's illustrations are so good, the stories are fascinating, and I loved searching for the little hidden ghosts on every page. 10/10 spookies!

This Carmilla retelling didn't really follow the original past having characters named Laura and Carmilla and featuring vampires. It's more of an illicit-relationship-with-a-professor story. I didnt enjoy it nearly as much as A Dowry of Blood, Gibson's Dracula retelling.

Zeitan is back with a vengeance in the sequel to Iron Widow! She awakened an ancient emperor and now she'll have to face the consequences. Things really picked up at the end when they confront the gods. The first 2/3 of the book did feel like a lot of set up, but it was also necessary set up. Overall, I'm still all-in on this fascinating sci-fi series.