Books Read in December: 27

Books Read for the Year:  244/250 Dang it! Missed it by 6.

Year-Long Reads:

Whatever Is Lovely

Sparkling Gems from the Greek, Volume I, by Rick Renner.

The Holy Bible, NLV.

Topical Books/Monthly Goal Books:

The Book of Signs, by David Jeremiah (spiritual).

7 Myths About Singleness, by Sam Allberry (spiritual).

Crazy Faith: It’s Only Crazy Until It Happens, by Michael Todd (spiritual).

Women of the Word, by Jen Wilkin (spiritual).

Hybrids, Super Soldiers, & the Coming Genetic Apocalypse. by Billy Crone (spiritual).

For Review:

Snowbound with Her Mountain Cowboy, by Patricia Johns. This was a sweet, clean second-chance romance that I enjoyed.

The Ballerinas, by Rachel Kapelke-Dale. I love books about the ballet, but this one…Honestly, the three main characters were horrible people. Selfish, self-righteous, and completely oblivious to right and wrong. Every male character in this book is portrayed as awful, which was ironic, considering one of the main characters literally killed a man—and decided she was in the right. Do not recommend.

The Last Dance of the Debutante, by Julia Kelly. This was a wonderful historical fiction with some great female characters. Thoroughly enjoyed it!

Nursing Her Amish Neighbor, by Marta Perry. This was a sweet inspirational romance read.

The Witching Tree, by Alice Blanchard. I like diversity and inclusion in my books, but when the author portrays every member of a group as one way, well, that’s just not believable to me. In this case, it’s Wiccans, who are all portrayed as good/generous/benevolent. Sorry, but I’m not buying it. I like the MC and the mystery, but it wasn’t solved by the end of the novel, which stopped but didn’t resolve anything.

His Road to Redemption, by Lisa Jordan. Unresolved family issues added layers to this quick romantic read.

Broken, Lost, and Found, by Imogen Keeper. I enjoyed these three short dystopian reads, and am looking forward to reading the fourth one, too.

The Girl in the Ground, by Stacy Green. This was a decent thriller read, but I didn’t really care for the main character, so it wasn’t great (to me).

Girls Before Earls, by Anna Bennett. I liked this light romance read. Hazel was a good character, and I enjoyed her character development.

Bad Girls Never Say Die, by Jennifer Mathieu.This was an interesting read: a gender-flipped The Outsiders. I enjoyed it, although I see quite a few negative reviews.

Safecracker, by Ryan Wick. This was just a “meh” read for me.

Heart of the Impaler, by Alexander Delacroix. It would have been nice to see some character growth/change here. Vlad Dracula was a spoiled, whiny, selfish twit, and I didn’t find his character in the least bit compelling.

The Kindred, by Alechia Dow (review forthcoming). This was just a fun read! A YA alien romance that felt like The Fifth Element a bit.

Love at First Spite, by Anna E. Collins (review forthcoming). While I enjoyed the read, the MC’s determination to get revenge on her ex no matter the cost was more than a bit petty. I did, however, like her love interest a lot.

At the End of Everything, by Marieke Nijkamp (review forthcoming). I enjoyed this “dystopian” read about a global pandemic killing almost everyone—and the teenagers abandoned in a detention center when it hits.

Reckless Girls, by Rachel Hawkins (review forthcoming). This was…about terrible people, frankly. Only, you don’t realize they’re terrible until the end. The rest of the book, there’s just a low-lying sense of something not being right.

Just Because:

The Case for Christmas, by Lee Strobel. That was an interesting read.

Did Not Finish:

The Women of Pearl Island, by Polly Crosby. I read about 25% of this but just couldn’t connect with any of the characters, so I had to stop reading. The writing is good, it just wasn’t a good fit for me right now.

The Hanged Man’s Tale, by Gerald Jay. This book just wasn’t for me. It felt very distant and…pompous for my taste.

Cry Wolf, by Hans Rosenfeldt. I read almost 20% of this, but the POV was too distant for me and the whole thing just felt kind of bleak. Just not a good fit for me.

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