#5OnMyTBR: Winter Celebrations

#5OnMyTBR is a bookish meme hosted by E. @ Local Bee Hunter’s Nook and you can learn more about it here or in the post announcing it. It occurs every Monday when we post about 5 books on our TBR.

This week’s theme is: Winter Celebrations

Title: A Holly Jolly Ever After

Author: Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone

Kallum Liebermanis the funny one™. As the arguably lesser of the three former members of the boy band INK, he enjoyed his fifteen minutes of fame and then moved home where he opened a regional pizza chain called Slice, Slice, Baby! He’s living his best dad bod life, hooking up with bridesmaids at all his friends’ weddings. But after an old one-off sex tape is leaked and quickly goes viral, Kallum decides he’s ready to step into the spotlight again, starring in a sexy Santa biopic for the Hope Channel.

Winnie Baker did everything right. She married her childhood sweetheart, avoided the downfalls of adolescent stardom, and transitioned into a stable adult acting career. Hell, she even waited until marriage to have sex. But after her perfect life falls apart, Winnie is ready to redefine herself—and what better way than a steamier-than-a-steaming-hot-mug-of-cider Christmas movie?

With decade old Hollywood history between them, Winnie and Kallum are both feeling hesitant about their new situation as costars…especially Winnie who can’t seem to fake on screen pleasure she’s never experienced in real life. She’s willing to do the pleasure research—for science and artistic authenticity, of course. And there’s no better research partner than her bridesmaid sex tape hall of fame costar, Kallum. But suddenly, Kallum’s teenage crush on Winnie is bubbling to the surface and Winnie might be catching feelings herself.

They say opposites attract, but is this holly jolly ever after really ready for its close-up?

EVERYBODY LOVED A MERRY LITTLE MEET CUTE ’Funny and saucy, this certainly puts the X-rated into Xmas’ Heat

‘The audacity of this magical author duo to sneak in and steal Christmas in the sexiest way possible . . . the charming holiday romp you absolutely need in your life!’
TESSA BAILEY

‘The holiday romcom of my dreams! Sexy, progressive, hilarious, and full of good cheer’
HELEN HOANG

’A merry little masterpiece . . . this is a read for those who want a winter romcom but with some X-rated antics’ Metro ‘The holiday rom-com of your dreams!’ Cosmopolitan


Title: Kissing Kosher

Author: Jean Meltzer

Step 1: Get the secret recipe. Step 2: Don’t fall in love…

Avital Cohen isn’t wearing underpants—woefully, for unsexy reasons. Chronic pelvic pain has forced her to sideline her photography dreams and her love life. It’s all she can do to manage her family’s kosher bakery, Best Babka in Brooklyn, without collapsing.

She needs hired help.

And distractingly handsome Ethan Lippmann seems the perfect fit.

Except Ethan isn’t there to work—he’s undercover, at the behest of his ironfisted grandfather. Though Lippmann’s is a household name when it comes to mass-produced kosher baked goods, they don’t have the charm of Avital’s bakery. Or her grandfather’s world-famous pumpkin spice babka recipe.

As they bake side by side, Ethan soon finds himself more interested in Avital than in stealing family secrets, especially as he helps her find the chronic pain relief—and pleasure—she’s been missing.

But perfecting the recipe for romance calls for leaving out the lies…even if coming clean means risking everything.


Title: My Ex-Mas Emergency

Author: Jennifer Peel

Very few in Aspen Lake expected that I, Calista Monroe, their most notorious wild child, would ever amount to anything besides being a model prisoner. So imagine their surprise when I returned as the hospital’s newest ER doctor. Believe me, no one is more surprised than I am. I had vowed to never return, even if it was the last safe haven during the zombie apocalypse. But when my niece, Quinn, begged me to come home, I couldn’t say no. My plan is to stay out of trouble this time, and above all, avoid Quinn’s uncle Tristan—the man I love to hate and the reason I left Aspen Lake.

But trouble starts to brew when my niece gets it into her pretty head that her uncle and I need to reconcile. The devious little thing insists we deck the halls together all season long. And since I’ll do anything to make Quinn happy, I agree, believing I’m completely immune to Tristan’s charm. Except the joke’s on me. Who knew that Tristan’s biggest regret was letting me go? And the infuriating man seems willing to do everything possible to win me back. Well, it’s going to take a Christmas miracle for me to give him a second chance. Unfortunately for my plan, our chemistry could set a blizzard on fire. Now I have a major ex emergency on my hands.

Do I give my niece her Christmas wish, or do I let the love between Tristan and me flatline once and for all?

USA Today best-selling author Jennifer Peel presents a sweet and swoony holiday rom-com that will leave you feeling oh so merry and bright.


Title: Lovelight Farms

Author: B.L. Borison

Two best friends fake date to reach their holiday happily ever after in this first romantic comedy in the Lovelight series.A pasture of dead trees. A hostile takeover of the Santa barn by a family of raccoons. And shipments that have mysteriously gone missing. Lovelight Farms is not the magical winter wonderland of Stella Bloom’s dreams.In an effort to save the Christmas tree farm she’s loved since she was a kid, Stella enters a contest with Instagram-famous influencer Evelyn St. James. With the added publicity and the $100,000 cash prize, Stella might just be able to save the farm from its financial woes. There’s just one problem. To make the farm seem like a romantic destination for the holidays, she lied on her application and said she owns Lovelight Farms with her boyfriend. Only…there is no boyfriend.Enter best friend Luka Peters. He just stopped by for some hot chocolate and somehow got a farm and a serious girlfriend in the process. But fake dating his best friend might be the best Christmas present he’s ever received.


I got only 4 titles…

Have you read any of these?

>>>>>

December

  • 04/12/2023 — Title Starting with a ‘C’
  • 11/12/2023 — Short Read
  • 18/12/2023 — Winter Celebrations
  • 25/12/2023 — 2023 TBR Tittles You Didn’t Get To

Weekly Wrap Up | 12/17/23

Aloha friends!

I got to spend some time with my mom on Sunday and she’s getting better day by day. I’m going to go spend time with her today since my sister and her family will be going out to celebrate her hubby’s birthday. My husband finally came home yesterday – he’ll be here for 3 weeks so I can go get some things done! I haven’t taken my kids to Sunday school the past few Sundays because my son had a piano recital and then my daughter was sick this whole week – but they also had a bomb threat, so I didn’t feel safe taking them. 

Kids have 4 days of school this week – but I’m already over it! I wish they had this week off! But at least I’m done with all my Christmas shopping. Now I just have to give the gifts so hopefully I can see some friends this week! 

I hope all of you had a good week!

Blog Posts:

Books I Read:

Somewhere in the Deep by. Tanvi Berwah

A Fragile Enchantment by. Allison Saft

Hallowed Games by. C.N. Crawford


Currently Reading:

Dark Star Burning, Ash Falls White by. Amelie Wen Zhao

The Endless War by. Danielle L. Jensen

Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:

  • The Buccaneers (episode 8) on Apple TV – scandalous! 

How was your week? Did you get a lot done? Watch anything good? Read any amazing books or books you didn’t finish? What are you reading?…Leave me a comment below!

Looking Back on 2023: Series That I Started or Finished

I did a similar post last year to see what series I started and finished during the year. It’s very interesting to see if I stick to a series or not. It’s so hard sometimes to get back into a series after waiting so long for the next book since I don’t re-read a lot of books anymore.

Series That I Started or Finished in 2023

Here’s what I started:

  • One Dark Window (The Shepherd King series) by. Rachel Gillig
  • Trial of the Sun Queen (Artefacts of Ouranos series) by. Nisha J. Tuli
  • Daughter of the Moon Goddess (The Celestial Kingdom series) by. Sue Lynn Tan
  • Song of Silver, Flame Like Night (Song of the Last Kingdom series) by. Amelie Wen Zhao
  • Divine Rivals (Letters of Enchantment series) by. Rebecca Ross
  • Blood & Steel (The Legends of Thezmarr series) by. Helen Schuerer
  • The Foxglove King (The Nightshade Crown series) by. Hannah Whitten
  • Silver in the Bone (Silver in the Bone series) by. Alexandra Bracken
  • The Liar’s Crown (Dominions series) by. Abigail Owen
  • Fourth Wing (The Empyrean series) by. Rebecca Yarros
  • Lightlark (Lightlark series) by. Alex Aster
  • Immortal Longings (Flesh and False Gods series) by. Chloe Gong
  • Stealing Infinity (Stolen Beauty series) by. Alyson Noel
  • A Taste of Torment (Shadow Hills Academy series) by. Stacey Trombley
  • Twin Crowns (Twin Crowns series) by. Catherine Doyle & Katherine Webber
  • Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries (Emily Wilde series) by. Heather Fawcett
  • House of Marionne (House of Marionne series) by. J. Elle
  • The Scarlet Alchemist (The Scarlet Alchemist series) by. Kylie Lee Baker
  • King of Wrath (Kings of Sin series) by. Ana Huang
  • The Stolen Heir (The Stolen Heir duology) by. Holly Black
  • The Jasad Heir (The Scorched Throne series) by. Sara Hashem
  • Powerless (The Powerless Trilogy series) by. Lauren Roberts
  • Heart of Night and Fire (The Nightfire Quartet series) by. Nisha J. Tuli
  • Night of the Witch (Witch and Hunter series) by. Sara Raasch and Beth Revis
  • The Hurricane Wars (The Hurricane Wars series) by. Thea Guanzon
  • To Kill a Shadow (Mistlands series) by. Katherine Quinn

The ones I won’t be continuing are:

  • The Liar’s Crown – Dominions series. I actually read book two but have no interest in finishing the series.
  • Lightlark – this was okay for me but didn’t spark my interest to keep going on in the series.
  • Emily Wilde series is fascinating but a little too slow for me at times. I’d have to be in a really cozy mood to read the next book or I’ll listen to it as an audiobook so this one is a maybe.
  • House of Marionne series is a maybe also. I was intrigued by the ending, but we’ll see how my mood is when book two comes out.
  • Night of the Witch – this was another okay book for me. Don’t think I’ll continue.
  • To Kill a Shadow – I didn’t feel anything new with this series to set it apart from other romance fantasies out there. So I won’t continue this one.

Here are the series that I finished:

  • The Sweetest Betrayal (The Kinder Poison series) by. Natalie Mae
  • Immortality: A Love Story (The Anatomy Duology series) by. Dana Schwartz
  • The Ashes and the Star-Cursed King (Crowns of Nyxia – The Nightborn Duet series) by. Carissa Broadbent
  • These Twisted Bonds (These Hollow Vows series) by. Lexi Ryan
  • Tokyo Dreaming (Tokyo Ever After series) by. Emiko Jean
  • A Dose of Agony (Shadow Hills Academy series) by. Stacey Trombley
  • Forestfall (World at the Lake’s Edge series) by. Lyndall Clipstone
  • Foul Heart Huntsman (Foul Lady Fortune series) by. Chloe Gong
  • Two Twisted Crowns (The Shepherd King series) by. Rachel Gillig
  • This Cursed Light (The Last Finestra series) by. Emily Thiede
  • A Curse for True Love (Once Upon a Broken Heart series) by. Stephanie Garber

Duologies are way easier for me to finish than trilogies for sure! So many of the series I finished were duologies.

What series did you start or finish in 2023?

Let me know in the comments!

First Lines Fridays | 12/15/23

First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?

  • Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
  • Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
  • Finally… reveal the book!

“Evangeline Fox always believed she’d find herself inside of a fairytale one day.”

⬇️

⬇️

⬇️

⬇️

⬇️

⬇️

⬇️

⬇️

⬇️

Can you guess what book it is?

Did you guess it? Have you read this one? If you did read this series, I bet you got this one right away!

📖 ~ Yolanda

Hallowed Games by. C.N.Crawford | Book Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: Hallowed Games (#1)

Author: C.N. Crawford

Format: ebook (kindle unlimited)

Pages: 410

Publication Date: 12/1/23

Categories: Adult, Forbidden Romance, Fantasy, Vampires

If he’s death, I crave oblivion.

I’m cursed to kill with a brush of my fingertips. My worst fear is attracting the attention of the kingdom’s magic hunters. Maelor is their mysterious, gorgeous leader–and my world falls apart when he learns my secret.

When he arrests me, my only hope is to survive a deadly competition, to win the mercy of our god. Strangely, Maelor is immune to my touch. Turns out, that’s because he’s secretly a vampire—lethally sexy, and dangerous as hell.

He’s as drawn to me as I am to him. Can this beautiful monster help me survive, or will our dark attraction lead me to ruin? 

Hallowed Games is the first book in a new series of fantasy romance, morally-grey characters, and deadly trials: perfect A Court of Thorns and Roses and Serpent and the Wings of Night.

Content Warning: violence

I haven’t read a forbidden love story in awhile so this was interesting!

+ It’s forbidden! Maelor is the Raven Lord who is part of the society that is similar to a devout priest but in this story they worship Archon. Anyone with magic is killed so think – the Spanish Inquisition or witch trials, except with a few twists. And Maelor can’t control himself when he’s around Elowen – who’s magic is a death touch. Anyway it has the religious fanatics hunting the witches kind of situations.

+ I did like the twist in the story with Maelor and another character who is a bit suspicious, Sion. I’m not sure what’s going to happen there between the three of them but in this book it’s about Maelor and Elowen’s forbidden attraction which gets steamy.

+ It’s a quick read – not as much depth as I’d like, but it’s a story for easy reading and escape.

~ I just wanted more world-building. I love the vampire aspect of the story, just wanted more from some of the characters. Maybe it’ll get better for me in book two?

~ I hope this doesn’t turn into a love triangle! I mean I kind of giggled when Elowen was turned on by Maelor’s exposed clavicle! lol I was like, OKAY, that’s how it’s going to be. There is lots of angst and pining on both sides but I’m not convinced they are going end up together? I don’t know. 

My Final Thoughts:

I kind of needed this one to get out of my reading slump. It was a quick and easy read, nothing to deep and fun because of the forbidden love and vampire elements. I did want a little more depth to the characters and some world-building but I’ll just take it as is and wait to see if it gets better in book two.

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Mini Reviews | Court of the Sea Fae Trilogy by. C.N. Crawford

Mini Reviews | Institute of the Shadow Fae Series (Books #1-4) by. C.N. Crawford

Mini Reviews | Hades Castle Trilogy by. C.N. Crawford

City of Thorns (The Demon Queen Trials, #1) by. C.N. Crawford | Book Review

Lord of Embers by. C.N. Crawford | Book Review

Garden of Serpents by. C.N. Crawford | Book Review

Frost by. C.N. Crawford | Book Review

Ambrosia by. C.N. Crawford | Book Review

Most Anticipated Book Releases | December 2023

There are some exciting book releases coming up this month!

I don’t think I’ll be able to get to any of them except for Ruthless Vows because I have so many January arcs to catch up on and other books I’ve borrowed that I really want to finish. But I’m pressed for time and energy…but these are books I do want to read!

This is what I’m looking forward to:


The titles above are books I haven’t read but I think I also should showcase the arcs I read that are releasing this month. So here they are:

What is your most anticipated book release this month?

WWW Wednesday | 12/13/23

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam over on Taking on a World of Words.

The idea is pretty simple, every week you dedicate a post to the three W’s:

What are you currently reading?

What have you just finished reading?

What are you going to read next?

We are coming to mid-December and I have lost my reading mojo fo real! My kids have been sick, my mom just got out of the hospital (but doing so so well 🙏🏼), the school spirit week is next week and holiday parties! And my hubby comes home this Saturday to visit so…I’m tired? lol…oh December – you always do this to me!

What are you currently reading?

ASAP by. Axie Oh

A Study Drowning by. Ava Reid

Somewhere in the Deep by. Tanvi Berwah – I’m almost 40% into this one so I think I will finish this week!

Hallowed Games by. C.N. Crawford

What have you just finished reading?

A Curse for True Love by. Stephanie Garber ⭐️⭐️⭐️

What are you going to read next?

Dark Star Burning, Ash Falls White by. Amelie Wen Zhao

A Fragile Enchantment by. Allison Saft

Nettle & Bone by. T. Kingfisher

The Endless War by. Danielle L. Jensen

What are you reading right now?

A Festive Feud: Special Edition by. Maren Moore | Book Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Title: A Festive Feud (Strawberry Hollow, #2)

Author: Maren Moore

Format: ebook (borrowed)

Pages: 222

Publication Date: 11/13/23

Categories: Adult, Romance, Spicy Holiday Romance, Contemporary, Novella

My family is famous for two things in our small Our annual Christmas party And…. Our feud with The Pearce family. Our families hate each other. It’s a tale as old as St. Nick himself. So, imagine what happens when a harmless little argument with Jackson Pearce ends with us both behind bars for the night. As if that wasn’t bad enough… The punishment for our crime? The only Christmas party we’re allowed to have is one together. At Town Hall. But… It gets worse . That means that I’ll be forced to spend time with Jackson and his enormous ego while we plan this party and somehow keep our families from strangling each other with tinsel this holiday season. It doesn’t help that he is annoyingly attractive and goes out of his way to push my buttons.
With his old, dirty, work boots, and his stupid veiny forearms, he works his way into my perfectly organized life and leaves everything in disarray.

Will we actually be able to survive this… Festive Feud, or will we end up back where we started?

Content Warning:

If you’re looking for a super quick, spicy holiday romance – this is it! But how did I jump into book two and not even know there was a first book? 🤷🏻‍♀️

+ Even though this is a second book in a series, I didn’t feel lost at all. This is a super quick read, so it gets to the point! There is a family feud going on in the small town of Strawberry Hollow and an incident between two members of the opposite families cause an incident. The punishment? If they want to throw their family holiday parties – they have to do it together! So Jackson and Emma try to put their differences aside but their attraction to one another ignites – despite being enemies.

+ I think Jackson and Emma’s relationship is cute and their sexual activities? Spicy! They don’t waste time on their feud and really get down to business.

+ It has tons of fun tropes like one bed, enemies to lovers, family feud, small town and even miscommunication (between the families). The chapter titles are pretty funny!

~ The feud didn’t seem so bad. We hear about some of the antics but when we learn more about what really happens, it seemed like something super trivial to start such a feud.

My Final Thoughts:

If you want a fun, spicy quick holiday story filled with the usual romance tropes – you will love this one.

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Happy Book Birthday | New Releases | 12/12/23

Happy book birthday to these new releases! Check out this list today:

Our Cursed Love by. Julie Abe

Julie Abe’s OUR CURSED LOVE is a magical 50 FIRST DATES meets LOVE AND GELATO set in Tokyo, Japan―about destiny, the impact of the choices we make, and the magic of true love.

Six days to remember.
Love or lose him forever.

Remy Kobata has always wished she was destined to be with her best friend, Cam Yasuda. All the way from being neighbors from birth to mixing up magical prank potions together to their “just friends” homecoming date during their senior year in high school, nothing’s a secret between Remy and Cam―except for how much she is in love with him.

Remy is trying to work up the courage to confess her feelings during their winter break trip to Japan, when she gets selected for a mystical tea leaves reading and it reveals that they’re not meant to be together. After they stumble upon a secret magical apothecary in the back alleys of Tokyo, Remy and Cam are offered an ancient soulmate elixir, created before all love potions were banned by the magical government. They each have their reasons for wanting to take it, but what could go wrong with finding your soulmate a little earlier?

Except, after they drink up, their senior year trip flips into the worst vacation Cam has forgotten who Remy is. If she can’t help Cam remember her by midnight New Year’s Eve, they’ll both be cursed to forget each other. To unravel their past and rewrite the future, Remy and Cam must travel through Tokyo to rediscover Cam’s memories and make new ones―and maybe even fall in love all over again.

Goodreads | Amazon

Are you getting any new books this week?

Happy Reading!

Books On My Winter 2022-2023 To-Read List | TTT | 12/12/23

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Please check out her website for more TTT topics!

This week’s topic is:

Books On My Winter 2022-2023 To-Read List

I’m excited to read a bunch of these and am grateful half of these are arcs. What’s on your winter TBR list?

A Place for Vanishing by. Ann Fraistat

Have you read any of these books? Are any of these on your TBR? What’s on your TTT?