Home for Christmas by Daphne James Huff, M.F. Lorson, Kayla Tirrell | Book Review | Blogmas

Title: Home for Christmas
Author: Daphne James Huff
Published Date: November 15, 2017
Genre: Christmas, Contemporary, YA
Page Count: 134
Format: Kindle

My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

Goodreads Summary: 
All across the country, people are heading home for the holidays. Special presents are wrapped beneath the tree, mistletoe is hung, the smell of cookies is in the air, but what if you don't have someone special to share it all with?

Will the magic of Christmas reach these characters? Or will they end up being a bunch of lonely grinches?

Three up-and-coming young adult authors share their Christmas stories about hope and joy during the holiday season.

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 My Review:
Thank you to the author for a free copy in exchange for my honest review. 

Home for Christmas is three short Christmas stories.

Dear Santa by Nancy Naigle | Book Review | Blogmas

Title: Dear Santa
Author: Nancy Naigle
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin 
Published Date: October 16th, 2018
Genre: Christmas, Contemporary, Adult
Page Count:338
Format: Paperback

My Rating: ★ ★ ★.5

Goodreads Summary: 
Angela Carson wants nothing more than to be the third-generation to run her family’s holiday store, Heart of Christmas, successfully. They’ve weathered over sixty tourist seasons, major hurricanes, and urban sprawl, in their old decommissioned lighthouse. But the national chain that set up shop in their small North Carolina town of Pleasant Sands may be more than Heart of Christmas can survive.

Encouraged by her niece to ask Santa for help, Angela gives in and lets the words fly in a way that, if Santa were real, would no doubt land her on the naughty list. What’s the harm when it’s just a computer-generated response?

Geoff Paisley has been at his mother’s side running the mega-chain Christmas Galore for the last ten years. When his mother falls ill, Geoff promises to answer the town’s Dear Santa letters in her stead. Soon he realizes the woman he’s been corresponding with on Dear Santa is Angela. How could the woman that grates his every last nerve in person have intrigued him so deeply through those letters?

When Geoff reveals that he’s her Dear Santa, will Angela be able to set aside their very public feud to embrace the magic of the holiday and possibly find true love?

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 My Review:

Dear Santa is one of those books that feels like a Hallmark movie. For any other time of the year I would dislike this, but for some reason during Christmas, I'm all for it.

This book is full of family, holiday cheer, and some drama. 

T5W | January 2019 Releases | Blogmas 2018

It's less than a week till Christmas! I have no idea where this month has gone truly, but I do know that I am very excited for Christmas and the New Year!

In the meantime let's talk about some January 2019 releases I am very excited for. 

Inspire Catholic Bible | Review | Blogmas

Title: Inspire Catholic Bible
Publisher: Tyndale
Published Date:  November 6, 2018

Format: Leather-Like Hardcover, Rose Gold

Tyndale Summary: 
Introducing Tyndale’s newest addition to the bestselling Inspire line, and the first—and only—Catholic coloring Bible. The Inspire Catholic Bible features over 450 beautiful Scripture line-art illustrations to color plus two-inch-wide lightly ruled margins with extra space to write notes and reflections or to draw and create original art. Inspire’s generous 8.65-point font is larger and more readable than most other journaling Bible fonts, and the high-quality white Bible paper is great for colorers and creative Bible journalers of all skill levels.

Inspire Catholic Bible’s New Living Translation text has been approved by the Catholic Church for personal reading and features the official Imprimatur. The Holy Bible, New Living Translation, communicates God’s Word powerfully to all who read it, and Inspire is a wonderful legacy Bible for readers to record their faith journey.

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 My Review:

Thank you to Tyndale for sending a copy for me to review!

This is one of the prettiest Non-Gold plated Bibles I have ever seen! 

As a Catholic finding Bibles that not only have all the books of the Bible but are also more fun or explain things, better is hard to find. This one does exactly that! Each page has something on it you can either color while your reading, or the chance to write to the side. 

5 Books From the Year I Was Born Check In | Blogmas Day 12

5 Books From The Year I Was Born

After a few days break to finish my finals and finally get caught up on some sleep I desperately needed its time to get back into BLOGMAS!!

Last year during Blogmas I challenged myself to read 5 books from the year I was born, which was 1993. Now at the beginning of this challenge, I knew it would be tough. I, however, was not prepared for how tough it would actually be for me. 

12 Days of Christmas Readalong |Bookish Bash | Blogmas Day 7

Happy day 7 of  Blogmas!

I hope your December has been great so far and you keep enjoying the holiday spirit. :) 

Next week is the start of a very fun new adventure for Bookish Bash! We are doing our second readalong and this one will go over 12 days and cover 12 short holiday stories!

From December 12-24 we will be reading a story every day from My True Love Gave To Me and discussing it on the Goodreads group page! Make sure to use the #bbreadalong as well so we can talk on Twitter and Instagram as well. We love to see all of your reading photos!

BOOKISH BASH

Website: https://www.bookishbash.org/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/bookishbash Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bookishbash/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/728270-bookish-bash

HOSTS

~Kristin~ https://twitter.com/FierceFabFemme https://www.instagram.com/kristinisab... ~Erin~ (Me) https://twitter.com/ReadingWithWrin https://www.instagram.com/readingwith... ~Brittany ~ https://twitter.com/bookishbeautyb https://www.instagram.com/thebookishb...

Ultimate Christmas Tag | Blogmas Day 5

It's that time of year again and Sam from Sam's  Nonsense has come up with another fun tag. This one is called the Ultimate Christmas Tag and you can watch her video here.

Without further ado let's go to the tag and see how I answer these fun Christmas related questions!

Seven Days of Us by Frances Hornak | Book Review | Blogmas Day 4

Title: Seven Days of Us

Author: Frances Hornak
Publisher: Berkley
Published Date: October 17th, 2017
Genre: Family, Realistic, Christmas
Page Count:368
Format: Kindle

My Rating: ★ ★ ★.5

Goodreads Summary: 
It’s Christmas, and for the first time in years the entire Birch family will be under one roof. Even Emma and Andrew’s elder daughter—who is usually off saving the world—will be joining them at Weyfield Hall, their aging country estate. But Olivia, a doctor, is only coming home because she has to. Having just returned from treating an epidemic abroad, she’s been told she must stay in quarantine for a week…and so too should her family.

For the next seven days, the Birches are locked down, cut off from the rest of humanity—and even decent Wi-Fi—and forced into each other’s orbits. Younger, unabashedly frivolous daughter Phoebe is fixated on her upcoming wedding, while Olivia deals with the culture shock of being immersed in first-world problems.

As Andrew sequesters himself in his study writing scathing restaurant reviews and remembering his glory days as a war correspondent, Emma hides a secret that will turn the whole family upside down.

In close proximity, not much can stay hidden for long, and as revelations and long-held tensions come to light, nothing is more shocking than the unexpected guest who’s about to arrive… 

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 My Review:

Emma and Andrew the patriarchs of the family are excited for the family to all be back together for the first time in years for the holidays. The one downside they will all be quarantined together in one house for a week in order to make sure daughter Olivia doesn't infect anyone with a disease she has been helping treat in Africa. 

A Christmas by the Sea by Melody Carlson | Book Review | Blogmas

Title: A Christmas by the Sea

Author: Melody Carlson
Publisher: Fleming H. Revell Company
Published Date: September 4th, 2018
Genre: Christian, Adult, Christmas, Contemporary
Page Count:169       

Format: Kindle

My Rating: ★ ★ ★

Goodreads Summary: 

When Wendy Harper inherits her family's beachside cottage in Seaside, Maine, she sees it as a way to finally pay off the debts that have mounted since her husband died. But before it can be sold, the neglected property must be renovated. She and her 12-year-old son Jackson move in--temporarily, she reminds him--in order to do the work themselves, even though Christmas is coming. The charming town, along with local craftsman Caleb Colton, pulls on both Wendy and Jackson, who even registers himself for school in a bid to get his mom to move them there permanently. Wendy knows that the most responsible thing to do is to sell the cottage and return to Ohio, but the lure of the sea is hard to resist.

Join award-winning author Melody Carlson for a Christmas story that will warm your heart and have you dreaming of your own enchanted seaside holiday. 
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 My Review:
Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for an e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

A Christmas by the Sea is a book about a mother and son who have gone back to a place where the mom summered with her grandparents and has now inherited after the death of her grandfather. 
Wendy and her son Jackson are going from Ohio to Maine in order to get to the cottage and fix it up for it to be sold, or at least that's what Wendy has planned. Jackson, on the other hand, wants this to become their new home and for them to have a fresh start after everything that happened. 

BLOGMAS 2018!!

Happy December everyone!

It's my favorite time of the year, which also means it's time for BLOGMAS!!

For the next 31 day's I'll have some sort of blog post being posted. 

What type of posts should you be expecting?

Well, I will, of course, have a bunch of reviews for books going up. 

You can also expect check in's for the challenges I started at the beginning of the year. 

I even have a few favorite lists of recommended books to read during the holiday season, as well as having my favorite books of the year recommendations. 

I will also be posting on my Instagram a few times a week and possibly even daily again! ( A girl can dream)

I am going to be fully honest with you though, the first 10 days of this month will be rough when it comes to posting due to finals for my college classes. I hope you all understand and I will do my best to make this the best blogmas yet!

Hope to see you back tomorrow for more Blogmas fun!

2018 Blog/Reading/Instagram Goals

2018 Goals

It's that time of the year again to set new goals for this blog and also this year Instagram!
This past year has been one where I really started taking blogging seriously and I realized that it's something I would love to make a job from in some way. (Not exactly sure how I'm going to do this yet. Any suggestions?)
Things will be different in 2018. Reading has kind of stressed me out this year, I put too much pressure on myself to read more books and in the process didn't pick up books I really wanted to read.

Blog Goals

• I want to post 3-5 times a week. 
• 2-3 of them being reviews
• 2 of them being meme's
• I really want to become a rep for one of the publishers I have a few in mind and have already started working on this. 
• Not every book I read will be getting a review on here anymore you'll always be able to find them on my Goodreads.

Reading Goals

• My Goodreads goal is going to be 50 books as a part of Beat the Backlist
• I want to get my Netgalley up to at least 85% 
• This means no more read now, option for me unless it's a book already on my tbr.
• I have 45+ books on my shelves that I really want to read this year. 
• I want to read 6 classics
• I want to read 6 nonfiction

Instagram Goals

• Keep posting 1-2 times a day
• 1 post being a challenge
• and the other being a mini book review
• grow to 400 followers (this is very doable for me as I've gotten 200 in 6 months of actively using my Instagram)
• Interact even more with other Bookgrammers, I love this little community and I really want to keep being apart of it.

I'll have another post going over how I did with my 2017 Goals on New Year's Eve. What are your goals for 2018?

Blogmas Day 25!: Christmas Key by Emily Thomas #bookreview

Title: Christmas Key
Series: Secrets of the Blue Hills Library #5
Author: Emily Thomas
Publisher:  Guidepost
Published Date: 2013
Genre: Christmas, Christian
Page Count: 284
Format: Hardcover

My Rating: ★ ★ ★

Goodreads Summary: 

Anne is busy preparing for Christmas when she finds a delicate key among Aunt Edie's holiday decorations. Anne soon discovers that the key unlocks a cubby in the church's Advent cabinet, which contains a beautiful sapphire ring. Did it belong to her recently deceased great-aunt? If so, why was it locked away and not among Aunt Edie's jewelry? And why is Reverend Tom tight-lipped when Anne asks him about it? Her search for the truth uncovers new revelations about her beloved great-aunt and a trail of secrecy and intrigue that stretches from cozy Blue Hill to Philadelphia.

Meanwhile, Anne is delighted when Ben and Liddie agree to participate in the church's annual Christmas play, but the production is in jeopardy when costumes go missing and the director becomes ill. Can they overcome the obstacles to ensure that the show goes on?
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 My Review:

The 5th book in the Blue Hill's Library series brings Christmas!

Blogmas Day 24: We Are Okay by Nina Lacour #bookreview

Title: We Are Okay
Author: Nina Lacour
Publisher: Dutton Books for Young Readers
Published Date: February 14th, 2017 by
Genre: Contemporary, Family, LGBTQIA
Page Count:256
Format: Hardcover

My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

Goodreads Summary: 
You go through life thinking there’s so much you need…

Until you leave with only your phone, your wallet, and a picture of your mother.

Marin hasn’t spoken to anyone from her old life since the day she left everything behind. No one knows the truth about those final weeks. Not even her best friend, Mabel. But even thousands of miles away from the California coast, at college in New York, Marin still feels the pull of the life and tragedy she’s tried to outrun. Now, months later, alone in an emptied dorm for winter break, Marin waits. Mabel is coming to visit, and Marin will be forced to face everything that’s been left unsaid and finally confront the loneliness that has made a home in her heart.

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 My Review:

“I was okay just a moment ago. I will learn how to be okay again.”

I've been wanting to read Nina Lacour's work for awhile because a lot of people rave about her, but just never picked up one. Thanks to the DBC though I did and I actually read a book the month it was for!

Magic of Winter by Martina Boone #Bookreview

Title: Magic of Winter
Series: Celtic Legends #3
Author:  Martina Boone
Publisher: Mayfair Publishing
Published Date: December 12th, 2017
Genre: Contemporary, clean read, Scotland
Page Count:259
Format: Kindle Edition

My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

Goodreads Summary: 
Perfect for the holidays! In the harsh winter of the Scottish Highlands, where love and past history are equally fierce, burning away old hurts lets the future bloom its brightest. Award-winning author Martina Boone spins a beautiful, heartwarming, and moving standalone novel of love, loss, hope, redemption, family, small-towns, and big ambitions set in the magical landscape of the Celtic Legends Collection.

Cait Fletcher was always second-string in her father’s eyes, unable to compete with her perfect older brother. Her father’s view of Cait only deteriorated when she fell for the local “bad boy” at the age of nine, and her love for Brice MacLaren never once wavered until the day he betrayed her a few months before their wedding. But their tiny glen in the Scottish Highlands full of secrets, opinionated neighbors, wandering sheep, and countless old traditions left no place to for Cait to escape either her past or her mistakes. She moved away—until her father’s unexpected illness gave her no choice but to return for the winter holidays.

Home again, Cait still loves the village of Balwhither as much as she hates it, and she despises the fact that just the sight of Brice can has never stopped making her heart twist and her breath come faster. But when she discovers that her father has given up not only on the family-run Library and Tea Room but also on the treatment for his cancer, she must put her own emotions and fears aside. Brice claims he’s changed, and he’s certainly been good to her father since she left. Now can she trust him enough to work with him as she fights to give her father something meaningful to live for?

A timeless story of love, passion, fathers and daughters, heroic women, men in kilts, and heartwarming traditions that will charm new readers and fans of the Celtic Legends Collection alike. Perfect for those who love Nora Roberts, Susan Mallery, Susan Wiggs, Sarah Addison Allen, and Diana Gabaldon. 

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 My Review:

"There’s more than enough places in the Highlands dedicated to glorifying men in kilts. I’ll make the Library and Tea Room a monument to Scottish women. It’s about time someone remembered who did the real hard work while the men were off raiding cattle or playing war."

Blogmas Day 17: 0by18 Success or Failure? Plus an announcement!

Last year during blogmas I decided to create #0by18 and Valerie from HESAIDBOOKSORME wanted to do it with me. It started off really good, but as the year went on I kind of forgot to update it and to ask how people were doing with it. For that, I would like to apologize to anyone who was taking part in it with us. If you were successful with or even read just one book off of your shelves please let us know! 

Blogmas Day 16: The Christmas Hope by Donna VanLiere #Bookreview

Title: The Christmas Hope
Series: Christmas Hope #3
Author: Donna Vanliere
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published Date: October 25th, 2005
Genre: Christmas, Christian,
Page Count:213
Format: Hardcover
My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Goodreads Summary: 
Patricia and Mark Addison have long given up the hope of having a meaningful Christmas. But this year, Patricia's job as a social worker will lead her to a very special five-year-old. Against her better judgment, Patricia bends the rules and takes the little girl to her own home.

Through the presence of Emily in their house and her penetrating questions about heaven, the Addisons learn that there is no sorrow so great that faith cannot help you find your way through. And Christmas will once more be a time of joy in their home.

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 My Review:

This is the third book in the Christmas Hope series that follows Nathan Andrews and several other characters as well. (I love how they're all being incorporated in!)

Blogmas Day 13: 12 Days At Bleakly Manor by Michelle Griep *ARC #bookreview

Title: 12 Days At Bleakly Manor
Series: Once Upon A Dickens Christmas
Author: Michelle Griep
Publisher: Shiloh Run Press
Published Date: September 1st, 2017
Genre: Historical, Christmas, Christian
Page Count:192
Format: Paperback/Kindle

My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

Goodreads Summary: 
When CLARA CHAPMAN receives an intriguing invitation to spend Christmas at an English manor home, she is hesitant yet compelled to attend—for if she remains the duration of the twelve-day celebration, she is promised a sum of one thousand pounds. That’s enough money to bring her brother back from America and reinstate their stolen family fortune. But is she walking into danger? It appears so, especially when she comes face to face with one of the other guests—her former fiancé, BENJAMIN LANE.

Imprisoned unjustly, Ben wants revenge on whoever stole his honor. When he’s given the chance to gain his freedom, he jumps at it—and is faced with the anger of the woman he stood up at the altar.

Brought together under mysterious circumstances for the Twelve Days of Christmas, Clara and Ben discover that what they've been striving for isn't what ultimately matters. What matters most is what Christmas is all about . . . love.

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 My Review:

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

Blogmas Day 10: The Deal Of A Lifetime by Fredrik Backman #bookreview

Title: The Deal Of A Lifetime 
Author: Fredrik Backman
Publisher: Atria Books
Published Date:  October 31st 2017
Genre: Adult Fiction, Christmas, Novella
Page Count: 96
Format: Hardcover   

My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

Goodreads Summary: 
It all begins with a father telling a story to his son on Christmas Eve. But this isn’t your typical Christmas story. The father admits to his son that he’s taken a life but he won’t say whose—not yet.

One week earlier, in a hospital late at night, the man met a five-year-old girl with cancer. She’s a smart kid—smart enough to know that she won’t beat cancer by drawing with crayons all day, but it seems to make the adults happy, so she keeps doing it.

As the man tells his son about this plucky little girl, he slowly reveals more about himself: while he may be a successful businessman, idolized by the media and his peers, he knows he failed as a parent. Overwhelmed by the responsibility of fatherhood, he took the easy way out and left his wife and little boy twenty years ago to pursue professional success. Now he is left wondering if it’s too late to forge a relationship with his son, who seems to be his opposite in every way—prizing happiness over money, surrounded by loving friends in a cozy town where he feels right at home.

Face to face with the idea that something is missing, the man is given the unexpected chance to do something selfless that could change the destiny of the little girl in the hospital bed. But before he can make the deal of a lifetime, he needs to find out what his own life has actually been worth in the eyes of his son. And so, he seeks him out and tells him this story…

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 My Review:

“The only thing of value on Earth is time. One second will always be a second, there’s no negotiating with that.”

Blogmas Day 9: The Christmas Blessing by Donna VanLiere #Bookreview

Title: The Christmas Blessing
Series: Christmas Hope #2
Author: Donna VanLiere
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published Date: October 28th, 2003
Genre: Christian Fiction, Contemporary, New Adult
Page Count:212
Format: Hardcover

My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

Goodreads Summary: 
In The Christmas Shoes, young Nathan Andrews was a child who lost his mother to cancer. Now his deepest wish is to become a doctor. When a stranger named Robert gave him the money to buy his mother a pair of shoes for her last Christmas, both Robert and Nathan learned the deepest lessons of love and giving. Now a medical student in his third year, Nathan realizes there are still things to be learned about faith, blessings, and sacrifice. Lessons he will learn from Meghan Sullivan-a young woman born with a hole in her heart that has not kept her from becoming a champion runner. And lessons learned from a young boy named Charlie, who teaches how to live a life of true courage. Together, they will help guide Nathan through the darkest period in his life. The Christmas Blessing is an inspiring about hope existing in the darkest places, and love is always the greatest gift of all.

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 My Review:

“Don’t ever take your EYES off the FINISH line. If you take your eyes off the GOAL, you’ll never make it to the END.”

In The Christmas Shoes, we saw Nathan dealing with his mother dying and Robert who was in a failing marriage.
Nathan is now in his residence years of becoming a Doctor and he is struggling with the reality that people will die under his care and if this is really what he wants to do for the rest of his life. In this book, he is following a heart doctor who is tough and with his added struggle of deciding if this is really what he wants he is frustrated and confused and a little lost. With a little help from a few patients, a heart to heart with some friends and his family he is able to make a decision and we even get to see him start a new life.
I'm not really sure whats going to happen in the next one with Nathan, but after this one, I can't wait to see what happens.

We also get to see Robert from the first one and he has a pretty big impact on Nathan and a few of his patients as well.

This book is a lot like a Hallmark or Lifetime movie, which are my favorite to watch during the holiday season. (yes they all end the same but I will sit there and watch every single one of them.) If you don't like those type of movies you might not like this book.

Blogmas Day 8: Prince In Disguise by Stephanie Kate Strohm *Arc #Bookreview

Title: Prince In Disguise
Author: Stephanie Kate Strohm
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Published Date: December 19th 2017
Genre: Contemporary, YA, Romance
Page Count: 320
Format: Kindle

My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Goodreads Summary: 
Someday I want to live in a place where I never hear “You’re Dusty’s sister?” ever again.
Life is real enough for Dylan—especially as the ordinary younger sister of Dusty, former Miss Mississippi and the most perfect, popular girl in Tupelo. But when Dusty wins the hand of the handsome Scottish laird-to-be Ronan on the TRC television network’s crown jewel, Prince in Disguise, Dylan has to face a different kind of reality: reality TV.

As the camera crew whisks them off to Scotland to film the lead-up to the wedding, camera-shy Dylan is front and center as Dusty’s maid of honor. The producers are full of surprises—including old family secrets, long-lost relatives, and a hostile future mother-in-law who thinks Dusty and Dylan’s family isn’t good enough for her only son. At least there’s Jamie, an adorably bookish groomsman who might just be the perfect antidote to all Dylan’s stress . . . if she just can keep TRC from turning her into the next reality show sensation.

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 My Review:

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-arc in exchange for my honest review.