Rounding out the year with a few holiday reads. I found one last five star read in In Five Years, which seems very New Years Eve themed. The Christmas books were so-so, but inspired a bit of holiday baking!
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
My Reviews: Goodreads
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Format: Hardcover
Quick Synopsis: Dannie nails the most important interview of her life with a perfectly curated answer to “Where do you see yourself in five years?” But later that night, after also accepting her boyfriend’s marriage proposal, she has the strangest dream: she’s five years into the future, in a different apartment, next to a very different man. Dannie tries to shake the dream, but four and half years later, the man from her dream materializes, as none other than her best friend’s new boyfriend.
Quick Review: Sounds like the beginning of a rom-com right? Wrong. Very wrong. You shouldn’t go into this thinking it’s a romance, but you should try to go in pretty blind. This is a difficult book to review without spoilers, but the last five pages took me by complete surprise, and not in a “plot twist!” type of way, but more in a “oh, oh wow, I was completely thinking about that the wrong way” type of way. It was magical. I think this book teaches you a lot about the choices you make, destiny, grief, and true friendship. I can tell I’m going to be thinking about this book for a while, and I think I’m adding all of Rebecca Serle’s future books to my TBR. I love her signature touch of magic and introspective point-of-view on modern love and life.
Who Should Read This: Anyone who has ended an engagement. Anyone who hasn't experienced the death of a loved one yet. Anyone who likes a touch of magic in their books.
Christmas Caramel Murder and Christmas Cake Murder by Joanne Fluke
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Format: Audiobooks
Quick Synopsis: Follow along as Hannah Swensen bakes her way through the murder-ridden town of Lake Eden, Minnesota during Christmastime.
Quick Review: I read a dual-volume version of these two stories in Christmas Dessert Murder with a friend this month. I really don't have much to say about the actual stories, as they're just quick murder mysteries, but I did like Christmas Caramel Murder better than the other. Hannah bakes a ton throughout the book, and it was fun to see her recipes sprinkled throughout. We made the Cocoa Crunch Cookies from Christmas Cake Murder and they turned out delicious. But overall, I don't think I'll read many cozy mysteries after these - much prefer my thriller books and cozy Christmas Hallmark movies.
Who Should Read This: Anyone who likes cozy mysteries. Anyone who loves a series. Anyone who loves Clue.
Genre: Young Adult Romance
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Format: Audiobook
Quick Synopsis: High school senior Sophie finds herself heartbroken right before Christmas. Cue her boisterous extended family to come in and set up 10 blind dates over the holiday season. Not sure who has more fun - Sophie who is rediscovering herself, or her relatives who are scouring the state for and making bets on the best match for Sophie!
Quick Review: This is the kind of book that is pretty much exactly what it says it is. A young adult rom-com set during the holiday season. If you're looking for a palate cleanser, quick read, or a happily ever after, you've found the right book! 10 Blind Dates feels like the perfect opportunity for a Netflix original mini series, and one that I'll like better than the book itself, kind of like how I felt about To All the Boys I've Loved Before. Cute premise, but the large cast of characters and busy string of dates will lend itself better to the small screen!
Who Should Read This: Anyone who has a good blind date story. Anyone who has an overbearing family. Anyone who just wants a short holiday story to get into the Christmas mood.
What's on deck for the next two months?
The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie because the ending gets spoiled in another book I want to read.
The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown because it's the next book in the Robert Langdon series and just became a TV show I want to watch.
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles since Mike read it earlier this year and I'd love to discuss it with him.
More Book-to-Screen Adaptations like The Lovely Bones, And Then There Were None, The Last Letter from Your Lover, Rebecca, Before I Go To Sleep, The Woman in the Window, and World War Z
More books I've owned for a while that have been sitting on my shelf forever, like An Anonymous Girl, The Bride Test, All The Ugly and Wonderful Things, Dark Matter, and Asymmetry.
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