Planning reads for winter is actually harder than I thought it would be. I usually try to choose seasonally appropriate reads but I’ve already read 15 festive books by this point, with plans to read two more before the end of the month so I’m a little over them.
I’ve also got Kindle Unlimited for a few more weeks so my main focus right now is reading as much with the service as possible. As I’m already close to finishing my reading challenge, I’ll probably chain read a bunch of graphic novels – I don’t want to start out my new challenge with loads of short reads.
The Holly Project by Angela Pearse
I’ve quite literally just come across this book as I’ve sat down to write this post and it’s a perfect pick to round up the festive season. I know this post has gone up early December, however, I won’t be reading this until later this month and I basically needed a festive looking cover to have as the featured photo for this post. I’ve planned to have every single post this month look festive.
Anyway, back to the actual book. This sounds right up my street. Fake dating at Christmas has become one of my favourite themes (tropes?) to read. It’s such a great time of year to pretend you’re dating someone as you usually spend a lot of time with the people you love and know you best, so the stakes are extra high. Ah, I love it.
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?
Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing: A Graphic Novel by Steve Barlow
I’ve never read Shakespeare outside of school, so I don’t really know any of the stories – they are something I’m interested in though. So you can probably imagine my excitement when I came across this series of graphic novel adaptations of Shakespeare’s works. This particular one is on Kindle Unlimited but I have actually bought a few of the other ones.
Synopsis: Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing like you’ve never seen it – or read it – before!
Classics in Much Ado About Nothing has been adapted into a graphic novel by expert authors, Steve Skidmore and Steve Barlow, with illustrations by Wendy Tan Shiau Wei. The famous battle of wits and misunderstandings reads like your favourite film on the page – as confusion abounds, compounds and finally untangles.
Classics in Graphics is a series of graphic novels for children aged 10 plus that has inclusion at its heart, flinging wide the doors of literature for everyone to enter and understand. Including dyslexia-friendly design on every page, and encouraging readers to relate to these iconic roles – casting spells, falling in love and winning duels.
Each graphic novel includes pitch-perfect illustrations for presenting the tragic, the romantic, the comedic, the magical, as well
– snappy simplified text presenting Shakespeare’s themes clearly
– introductory materials to help set the scene and context of each story
– heaps of extra material at the back to keep the learning and fun going, including an exploration of themes in the play, the language, Shakespeare’s inspirations, the publication and performance of the play in history, a timeline of Shakespeare’s life and works, and much more!
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