December is typically a month where I read a lot more than I normally do. I get motivated to finish as many books as I can before the new year begins. But this year was different. Even though I have been on winter break from school, and should presumably have all the time in the world to read, my time has been sucked away by work, wedding planning, and packing to move at the end of the school year. It's been a lot, and my reading has suffered from it.
With that being said, I did manage to finish five books this month, which I am pleased with. There were other books I started, but still haven't been able to finish yet. Overall, I did read a lot, I just didn't finish as much as I would have liked to.
*I received a free ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*
This was the first book I finish in December, and I still have a lot of thoughts on it. I loved the first half and was convinced it would be a new favorite. The premise is unique and the writing is very good. But after the first half, I felt like the plot took some strange turns and I still don't know exactly how I feel about it. Again, I loved the idea of this book. It was so refreshing to read a main character who is an Instagram influencer. Oftentimes when modern technology and social media is in a book it can feel forced and gimmicky. The way the life of an influencer is portrayed in this book felt very real and served a purpose in the story, which I appreciated. The other perspective of the grifters and con artists also added a lot of suspense to the story. I love a good con artist story line. However, since some of the plot choices were strange to me and all the main characters were completely unlikeable by the end, this was just a middle-of-the-road book for me. This book comes out on April 21, 2020.
Rating: ★★★
Summer of '69 - Elin Hilderbrand
This book was fun, but overall just an okay book. Obviously it's more of a summer-y beach read, but the audiobook was available and I wanted to see what the hype was about. As I was listening to it, it seemed to me as if the whole purpose of this book was to showcase as much 60's-ness as possible. Each of the characters represent a caricature of 60's. There's an unhappy housewife, the Vietnam soldier, the free-spirit hippy, the high strung old woman, every stereotype is portrayed. This books fits it all in, with references to all the major events of 60's. While, again, it was fun, the story underneath all the references and nods to the culture of the 60's was hardly there that it made it seem as if the plot was nothing more than a way to deliver nostalgia. It felt a little heavy handed at times. But I know Elin Hilderbrand is a very popular author, so I'm still open to reading more from her.
Rating: ★★
Since I wrote a full, detailed review for this one, so I won't say too much here. But this was a suspenseful historical fiction book that loosely follows a true story. It has themes of ethics in journalism, the struggles of parenthood during a difficult time of history, and redemption from past mistakes. This book is super easy to read and understand and I found the story to be unique compared to many other historical fiction books I've read. I did feel the characterization and writing was lacking, but I highly recommend it for young readers who want more mature books, or someone who enjoys reading about the Great Depression era.
Rating: ★★★
Rating: ★★★
*I received a free ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*
This is a short and sweet prequel to the amazing The Blood Race trilogy by blogger Kate. While I didn't find this book to be incredibly necessary to the series as a whole, I really enjoyed being back in this world. This book gives more depth to the character Ion, giving his backstory and showing how he became who he is at the beginning of the trilogy. When I read The Blood Race, Ion's was the perspective I connected with the least. Having a prequel focused on him made me feel like I got to understand him as a character more. If you've read The Book Race trilogy and want more, I highly recommend! This book comes out April 7, 2020.
Rating: ★★★★
I was in need of a cozy Christmas book when I got home from school. I had heard a lot of good things about this Christmas, World War I Romance novel, so I decided to give it a try. I absolutely loved it! This book gives a warm, hopeful, Christmas feeling without being overkill. It has a heartbreaking account of WWI, and a beautiful romance that swept me away. I have a weakness for WWI and epistolary novels, this book satisfies both of these for me. The ending made me cry, which is something that hasn't happened in a long time. I admit, the story is predictable, and the writing isn't anything amazing, but it's a sweet Christmas book that gave me all the feelings. If you aren't ready to be done with Christmas, or want to save this book for next year, it's a great one!
Rating: ★★★★★
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What did you read in December?
4 comments
I, too, planned to read a lot in December but didn't. I did read more than I usually do, but that was just because I went through a phase of reading a ton of books on my phone.
ReplyDeleteI'm super excited to read Anomaly!! The Blood Race series is AMAZINGGGG and I'm so pumped there's more.
Happy 2020!
I've been reading a lot of books on my phone in the past year and it's crazy how much reading can get done when you're waiting around with nothing but your phone.
DeleteI hope you get to read Anomaly soon!
Happy 2020 to you too!
I definitely feel more motivated to finish books before the new year as well! And that's still amazing about finishing 5 books, I do that on a normal basis, XD. asdfghjkl I've been wanting to read Anomaly for so long, but I still have to finish The Blood Race and the rest of the trilogy first.
ReplyDeleteYour posts and mini-reviews are always so well-thought-out, I love reading them!! I hope you have a beautiful new year, Hannah <333
Thank you so much for your sweet comment! Happy reading this year!
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