Photo credits: JL G - pixabay Edited by Vaishali C O M B I N E D N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R R E A D I N G W R A P U P !! The big 2020 is coming to an end. Really, we're nearly there. It’s close. It’s imminent. We’re sitting, time stretching out as we uncomfortably slide off its sharp edge. We've all felt the weight of it, either through firsthand deficit or distant but uncomfortable watchfullness. We've all however, been a part of this pensive disparity. We didn’t expect it, nor did we anticipate the spread of a virus migrating to the plateau it did. We didn’t expect such an flush of human passion either. I don't need to lay out the nuances of just how much this year, one day to be reflected upon as just another parcel of history, has made a dent. It unquestionably has, but it has also brought the better qualities of ourselves to the surface, through the skin. It has put quality, foresight and renewal back into hope, uncertainty and possibility. As humans, we've thrived just as well alongside the likes of COVID and unchangeable change. We've had a pounding, let's shoot for some peace. I don't need to rehash the king-sized blows we've taken this year. We've all been privy to the endless news cycles, briefings, shortcomings and wakeful restlessness that came with it, while we have all been the blind mice taking cover in our holes. An adapted way of living. But, I want to stress something: we've made it. The human race continues into another year. Not unscathed, but not subdued. The discomfort has not been lost on any of us, but to villify an inevitable something that is the enabler to growth, that pulls reform from frustration, that puts challenge to a tempest, is a rather veiled sort of evolution than something to damn with the spear of condemnation. A leg up from the place we were in yesterday, if not in the world around us, then in the way our own sight becomes the reflection. There is potential to be found in the reshaping hand of temperature, any setting and time. So this isn't a necessary intent to leave behind a harder, darker time and to carve a road made only from luminscent bricks. I think it's about understanding that we need dusk to make way for dawn. About darker times propping up the lighter ones and framing them as something to appreciate. About letting the night happen so we can hug the stars even harder. The inextricable quality of life is that we get the worth of both the abrasive tide and the stream of reassurance from the ebb. Readers have still been reading and writers have still been pushing out those bestsellers. Though, through less-relied-on mediums, people have still been engaging. I'm hopeful for 2021 and I hope you are too. We've reached that time of year when we're wrapping up our yearly reads, either excited for reaching our bookish goals or frustrated with the ones we haven't even touched. My mantra is to go as slow or as fast as your singular pace takes you. Whether you read all day every day, a few minutes a day, a few hours a month, a couple days a week, once in every blue moon, progress is progress and quality experience is always better than the quantity...as cliche as this is, it holds the truest bones for all of us. There’s no quality to be found in crowning numbers. We can neither never be comfortably content in chasing number after number, page after page, piling books on top of books as we can in taking pride and prize in our ferocious reading efforts every year. I made it to 60 books and I'm patting my very slow, OCD-specific frazzled head for a miraculous job well done. I make my life riding the waves of bad health and chronic illness no secret, and among the many challenges the day drops at my feet, reading is no exception. Not everybody can read and learn and educate themselves with the ease of consuming sentence after sentence. I quite purposefully set my reading goal to a reachable, achievable target this year for that reason, to shed the weight of a patterned pressure. It wasn’t simple, but I bested it times three... So, here's to the chronically ill community who read in spite of illness. Who can't read in spite of illness. Who try anyway. To every reader who mentally paces. Who emotionally tempers. Who can't afford to speed-read. Who sees the worth in reading in spite of cognitive disability. To every reader who stumbles through the minefield of language and linguistics and tries anyway. This is for every fanatical reader. Every once-in-a-blue-moon reader. Every fantasy zealot. Every romance rebel. Every thrill seeker. Every suspense supporter. Every classic literature devotee. Every paranormal junkie. Every horror fiend. Every idealist. Every day dreamer. Every night dreamer. Every dawn runner. Every dusk sitter. Every traveller. Every word chaser. Every finder of stories. Every awkward hermit who befriends books. Ever socially anxious book-head who lends their weight to the nearest stack. To every extrovert who reads. To every introvert who can't stop reading. To reading. To writers. To bloggers. To reviewers. And to every aspiring storyteller who picks up a pen and unknowingly pieces themselves into the behemoth tapestry of written history. To every fantasist who champions story for its creative purpose and every realist who rifles through every one for the rawest understanding of imagination. Who've read one book this year or one hundred books or any number between. Here's to you, here's to a new year in story and a new, continued chapter in our own! WIthout further chatter, I'll leave you with my reads for November and December !! 1) Storm the Castle by Jolie Vines - Rating ★ ★ ★ 3
When his motivation to claim practical and self-sacrificing Mathilda Storm from a marriage of convenience, he shows her a shade of love both sweet-smelling and passionate, but independent and self-supporting. Get involved in some proud and stormy Scots, loving and ignorant family values, difficult relationships, sacrificial intention, gambling livelihoods, a McRae clan that gave this story its energy and a Laird and lady with deep affection for familial welfare. If any man came at me with the incessant vigour as a certain Laird Callum McRae, I’d be another lass in line to champion his home and heart. C O N T E N T W A R N I N G S: Retrospectively mentions alcohol addiction, violence and child abuse. One-time mention of cancer. Profanity is not excessive, but it is interspersed throughout with a few sex scenes. You can find my full review of 'Storm the Castle' here! - 3.5 S T A R S to Storm the Castle 2) Sexy Filthy Bosss by Piper Rayne - Rating ★ ★ ★ 3.5
As my second from this author partnership, I definitely think this addition is a huge step up from my first Piper/Rayne foray. Consider it a hopeful spree to explore. This is a first in a standalone series of Mancini bachelors. Go grab your fill, but you might want to play a cheeky game of rock, paper, scissors to decide which Mancini is for you (read the book and the reference will glow with amusing clarity). Potential content warning: Swearing sprinkled throughout and minimal bedroom scenes (most of them off-page). You can find my full review of 'Sexy Filthy Boss' here! - 3.5 S T A R S to Sexy Filthy Boss 3) Have a Heart by Jodi Watters - Rating ★ ★ ★ 3
A night of breaching, sharing and a first-meeting companionship made of thorns and unthinking charm brings together a man who believes In the meaning of nothing and woman who believes in the meaning of everything. A mini-universe where time freezes while moving lightning-fast. Two flawed somebodys without the desire to part and a stronger desire to speak to familiar strangers. P O T E N T I A L C O N T E N T W A R N I N G S: Mentions PTSD, gambling/drug addiction. Profanity, sex scenes, and mentions of repeated suicide attempts with graphic details of one such attempt. Also mentions depression and overdose. You can find my full review of 'Have a Heart' here! - 3.5 S T A R S to Have a Heart 4) The Grinch who stole my heart by Annabelle Costa - Rating ★ ★ ★ 3.5
Annabelle Costa’s Christmas romance was an enjoyable read, if not a fantastic one. Jeremy’s character made the story for me. Though this read was more on the deficient side, I’m glad both characters attracted their HEA because both were deserving. I was engaged from the first page so this was a story to look forward to. Points for an uncommon romance and for injecting some prospective cheer into two cheerless people. P O T E N T I A L C O N T E N T W A R N I N G S: Some swearing and one mild fade-to-black sex scene. You can find my full Goodreads review of 'How the Grinch Stole my Heart' here! - 3.5 S T A R S to The Grinch who Stole my Heart 4) Hammered by Jasinda Wilder - Rating ★ ★ ★ ★ 3.5/4
A relatable, vulnerable heroine in need of acceptance and much-needed attention. A house touched by a man with magical hands, a woman touched by his magical words, friends without qualms, and the idea that age means nothing when we’re all people looking for the same things, ‘Hammered’ was absolutely delightful, flirty and a breezy portrayal of upper bracket romance. Just what I needed in a moment of dismal need! P O T E N T I A L C O N T E N T W A R N I N G S: Mentions multiple miscarriages, swearing, a descriptive sex scene and a lot of heavy drinking. You can find my full Goodreads review of 'Hammered' here! - 3.7 S T A R S to Hammered I hope you've enjoyed my December reads, but more than that, I truly hope you've enjoyed your own! I love interacting with fellow readers and hearing about reader opinion, so if you'd like to talk books or about your own November/December reads, get in touch and comment below! For the last time this year, but not forever...H A P P Y R E A D I N G <3 ____________________________________ R E L A T E D P O S T S: ● September Reading Wrap Up 2020 _____________________________________ SHARE ON FACEBOOK Leave a comment and let's talk...
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VaishaliBorn in the UK Archives
February 2024
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2019 Reading Challenge
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