December this year was pretty jam packed for me. I usually like to read as many books as I can so I’m ahead of myself for the new year. I think I did an OK job of that, but not when it came to actually writing posts, I did read plenty of books though. My reviews are already planned and written well into February other than a few ARCs.
The Holly Project by Angela Pearse
Read: 1/12/24 – 5/12/24
I picked this up as I wanted to make all of my December content festive looking in some way. Thankfully it was a very decent read. I wouldn’t say it was my favourite of the month but I do enjoy a good fake dating book and the Christmassy vibes were lovely.
Synopsis: It’s two days ‘til Christmas … and she’s on the run.
Holly Driver despises Christmas. She prefers to spend the holidays alone without tinsel or turkey, thank you very much. However, this year, she can’t avoid her client’s Christmas party.
But when a drinking game gets out of hand, Holly wakes to a viral TikTok of her antics and she can’t remember a thing. Mortified, she escapes the city and bumps into Bailey, the chef she met at the party, who’s full of festive cheer.
With her train cancelled, Holly reluctantly agrees to spend the night at his family home – only to discover it’s Christmas on steroids. Even worse, everyone assumes she’s Bailey’s girlfriend and he doesn’t correct them.
What’s he playing at? Is he deliberately trying to annoy her or is there a deeper intention behind his fake dating ruse?
Witchcraft: A Graphic History by Lindsay Squire
Read: 6/12/24
*I was given an ARC of Witchcraft: A Graphic History in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Leaping Hare Press and Lindsay Squire for my copy of this graphic novel*
This was a very lovely read. I didn’t know too much about the history of witchcraft before picking it up, but I definitely learnt a lot while reading. The author has inserted herself into the history of Biddy Early, a famous witch, and it’s such a cool way of telling her story. I really enjoyed this and art style was great.
Synopsis: Join Lindsay, a young and curious 19th-century lady, as she meets Biddy Early, the famous ‘wise woman of County Clare’, and learns all about the magickal arts—from which plants can be used to make healing poultices and potions, to how people dealt with the social and political stigma of practicing witchcraft.
Biddy Early, who lived from 1798–1874 in Ireland, was by no means the first-ever witch, but she was the first to appear on the historical record. Before her, fears and superstitions surrounding practitioners of ‘the nameless art’ were too strong. It is said that Biddy took an apprenticeship with the ‘good folk’, sidhe or faeries, when she was very young, and it was from them that she learned her skill as a healer.
Never one to accept monetary payment for the help she offered, Biddy would often swap home-brewed alcohol for her services, which in turn, made her ramshackle cottage in Feakle a hub for the local community. When her little corner of the county drew the attention of the Catholic Church and the local authorities, things became very difficult for this unusual woman…
Encompassing self-empowerment, feminism, dealing with stigma, and eco-spirituality, as well as plant magic, traditions, and green wisdom, Witchcraft: A Graphic History is a fresh take on an endlessly fascinating subject.
Snowed In by Catherine Walsh
Read: 5/12/24 – 7/12/24
Oh how I love a Catherine Walsh festive romance. Coincidentally this one is also a fake dating book and I loved it. Her characters and their relationships are just so well written and developed. This wasn’t part of my ‘12 books of Christmas’ series but it was up there as one of my favourites of the month. I can’t recommend both books in the ‘Fitzpatrick Christmas’ series enough.
Synopsis: Megan is dreading going home for the holidays. She’s the village pariah, the she-devil who left local golden boy Isaac at the altar four years ago and ran away to the big city. She could really do without the drama. Particularly as he’s engaged again, and she’s just been dumped for the fourth time this year.
Christian’s fed up of being on his own every Christmas. He doesn’t mind being alone , but he hates his family’s sad eyes and soft tones as they sit around coupled up. Because he’s actually, totally, fine.
So when Megan literally bumps into Christian in a Dublin pub, they come up with a pact to see them through the holiday season. They’re going to be the very best fake dates for each other, ever.
Rules are drawn up, a contract is signed on a wine-stained napkin. They will sit through each other’s family gatherings and be outrageously in love until freed from their annual obligations. After all, it’s only for a few weeks.
But with everyone home for the holidays, two big families to deal with alongside old friends, old flames and old feelings, things are bound to get messy. And when a snowed-in cabin and a little Christmas magic are added to the mix, anything could happen…
Delectable Magic by Iris Beaglehole
Read: 8/12/24 – 13/12/24
After giving so much praise to the previous instalment in this series I’m so disappointed to give this one a two star rating. Everything felt all over the place, which isn’t uncommon in this series as the author is trying to replicate the fast paced dialogue of Gilmore Girls. But sadly it didn’t work this time. The dialogue in particular was extremely disjointed.
Synopsis: In the lead-up to the Lughnasa festival, trouble is brewing in Bermuda…
Rosemary has her hands full with the launch of her much anticipated magical chocolate shop. She’s enjoying the peace and quiet of Myrtlewood and the last thing she wants to do is get involved in Bermuda witching politics.
Athena, on the other hand, is dying for a tropical escape, especially when things take a turn for the strange and unusual where her powers are concerned leading to terrible embarrassment.
Peculiar threats and unwanted visitors drive Rosemary to rise to the challenge of visiting the witching parliament to protect her daughter and salvage her dreams.
An Embarrassment of Witches by Sophie Goldstein & Jenn Jordan
Read: 15/12/24
For a graphic novel with witches in the title, this has a severe lack of magic or anything fantastical. I liked the art style but that’s about it really.
Synopsis: Life after college isn’t turning out exactly as Rory and Angela had planned. Rory, recently dumped at the gate of her flight to Australia, needs to find a new life path ASAP. What do you do with a B.A. in Communications and a minor in Southeast Asian Spellcraft? Maybe her cute new housemate Guy is the answer she’s looking for (spoiler alert: he isn’t).
Meanwhile, Angela is buckling under the pressure of a high-stakes internship in a cutting-edge cryptopharmocology lab run by Rory’s controlling mother, who doesn’t know Rory is still in town… and Angela hates keeping secrets.
Honeybites by I.S. Belle
Read: 14/12/24 – 17/12/24
I didn’t enjoy the second instalment as much as the first. I think this would have been better if it was either on the end of the first instalment or the start of the third. They aren’t long books so it would actually make sense to do that. The story felt a little weak so it didn’t stand on its own as well as the first book.
Synopsis: Honey and Sadie have a plan: get back home and take senior year by storm. Out and proud girlfriends, secret vampires. They can rock this new undead life if they stick together. Right?
But the past doesn’t die easily. A revealing video from a true crime YouTuber forces the girls to come up with a new plan: say they were home all summer and avoid each other in the hallways until everything blows over.
Their plan to lie low is quickly ruined when the true crime YouTuber shows up in town, asking about a murdered indie band and trailing unwelcome threats in her wake. Hunters, ex-boyfriends, frenemies and raging bloodlust – senior year is kicking off with a snarl.
The Fiction Between Us by Julie Olivia
Read: 19/12/24 – 20/12/24
Oh look at that another fake dating book. I honestly didn’t realise until right now that I read three fake dating books in one month. This one was also great and the Honeywood series has been solid so far.
Synopsis: Some fairytales may be real, but ours is strictly fiction.
I’ve been Queen Bee at our theme park for ten glorious, uncomplicated years. I’m far better at creating fictional magic than real life miracles. So when Landon Arden, my best friend’s twin brother and my old high school bully, starts to work at Honeywood, I’m wishing for some gift from above to fix this mess.
Cue a worse situation.
After Landon falls on stage during one of our shows, the guests mistake him for a character in the park: Ranger Randy.
The problem isn’t when our manager asks him to perform as the bearded, tight tush, short shorts-wearing hero. No, my fairytale comes crashing down when we’re told that Queen Bee and Ranger Randy must appear as a couple.
Fine. Whatever. Ten years ago, my teenage crush for Landon may have been real, but I can fake a happy ending with Ranger Randy. I can sign autographs with him, have his arm around my waist, hold his hand, and… kiss him on stage?
I tell myself it’s all for show. We’re just characters in a theme park. And I won’t fall for true love’s kiss, even if I do want to try it one more time…
Dead Girls Can’t Tell Secrets by Chelsea Ichaso
Read: 14/12/24 – 21/12/24
I have real mixed feelings towards this book. I enjoyed the experience of listening to it and I thought it was pretty good for a while. But the big reveal was really disappointing. The build up wasn’t there. I don’t want to spoil the ending but the ending did spoil the rest of the book.
Synopsis: Piper Sullivan never should have been at Suicide Point the day she fell. Her older sister, Savannah, knows this with all her heart—just as she knows that Piper’s “accident” was entirely her fault. Savannah did something awful, something she can barely stand to think about, and now Piper is in a coma.
But just as Savannah’s guilt threatens to swallow her whole, she finds something strange in Piper’s locker: a note inviting Piper to a meeting of their school’s wilderness club…at the very place and on the very day she fell. Which means that there’s a chance Piper wasn’t alone.
Maybe it isn’t Savannah’s fault, after all. Someone in the club might know what really happened. Someone might have done something. But why? If Savannah wants to find out the truth about that tragic day, she’ll have to join the club on their weekend long camping trip…on the very same mountain where her sister fell. And with everyone in the club a suspect, she’ll need to be careful or she might follow her sister into the dark.
Charm Me Not by Danielle Keil
Read: 23/12/24 – 27/12/24
Another solid book from Danielle Keil. I’ve been enjoying both her Tangled Web and Love Notes series for the past year and I would like to finish both of them in the future. This one has a secret relationship and reverse grumpy x sunshine, so it’s a pretty entertaining read.
Synopsis: At Fairview-Teller High, dark mixes with light. Evil with good. And villains with heroes. But there’s a reason the students call it Fairy Tale High. They’ll get their happily ever after, even if they have to fight for it.
When Una starts sort-of secretly dating one of her father’s soccer players… life gets complicated.
Una Nielsen is the contract maker. Sign and date, and she’ll do whatever you want—for a price.
The one thing she hates dealing with? Love.
When the charming soccer captain comes to her with a contract, she can’t turn him down. Even if it deals with love.
And her.
She agrees to go out with him a few times to see if he can change her mind and believe in love.
Only because she found a loophole in the deal.
They have to keep their plan a secret so her dad—and the rest of the school—doesn’t find out.
But secrets at Fairy Tale High are hard to keep…
P.S. It’s Always Been You: Part 3 by Lauren Blakely
Read: 30/12/24
I didn’t want to rely on short reads to finish my Goodreads challenge but I thought it was best I didn’t leave it too long before finishing this series. I haven’t written my full review yet, but this was my favourite instalment.
Synopsis: Hunter Armstrong sauntered back into my life unexpectedly, all lopsided grin, mischievous eyes and rugged determination. Not to mention a huge heart. He’s nearly impossible to resist, but that’s what I have to do as we follow the clues in a trail of love letters from a century ago. But with every new twist in the story, this treasure hunter seems to set his sights more firmly on reclaiming my heart. I desperately want to believe him, but the trouble is I don’t know if I’m simply getting swept up in the past, or if we can truly try again for a brand new present.
The Wedding Proposal by John Swansiger
Read: 31/12/24
This was another short audiobook to get me over the line. If I didn’t have 10 DNFs last year I wouldn’t have needed this. However, I have had this saved on Audible for over a year now–the cover was what put me off it. I did actually enjoy it though.
Synopsis: Her dream wedding has fallen to pieces…but her love story has just begun. Lose your heart to this scripted, multicast rom com featuring an immersive soundscape!
Hanna is devastated when just a few weeks before her wedding, her fiancé drops the bomb that he doesn’t want to marry her. With the wedding bought and paid for (and completely non-refundable!), she decides to give it away to a deserving couple. Hanna chooses a pair of strangers that fate seems to put in her path, and then embarks on rearranging the wedding details with the help of the new bride-to-be’s brother. As Eric helps her make the final flower selections, put the finishing touches on the cake, and fine tune the other romantic details, something unexpected starts to happen. They find themselves falling for each other. Is Hanna’s broken heart to blame for pulling her toward Eric, or is this the beginning of something real and lasting?
The Wrong Bachelor by Alexandra Moody
Read: 31/12/24
I went into this without high expectations and that’s exactly what you need to do with YA highschool romances. Am I too old to be reading these still? Maybe, but I do love a clean romance every now and then. Also, I’ve had a picture of this ready to use for over a year now so that pushed me to finally read it. That and my Kindle Unlimited subscription runs out on the 23rd.
Synopsis: A desirable potential boyfriend. AKA not Cole Kingston.
Seventeen-year-old Madison (Madi) Matthews wants nothing to do with the dating competition her school is holding to raise money for charity. She’s never been interested in chasing a guy before, and she certainly isn’t interested in competing for one in front of the whole school.
But, when Madi is voted as one of the ten “lucky” contestants, she’s given no choice but to vie for the heart of Lincoln High’s most eligible bachelor. The problem is, they’ve chosen the wrong guy.
Cole Kingston might be good looking, great with a football and practically the king of Lincoln High, but he’s also cocky, arrogant, a serial flirt and Madi’s sworn enemy.
Will she be able to resist him though when the competition heats up and he turns his charms on her?
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