December Wrap Up

December! What a month you have been! It is always one of my favourite months as although the busiest, I love the hustle and bustle and getting everything ready for Christmas. Despite the busyness of the season, I still managed to read 8 books and all of them Christmassy apart from one.

1. Make A Christmas Wish by Julia Williams
For the first time in a long while, I managed to squeeze in a book that I had bought myself and wasn't for review. It was actually quite nice as I was able to read at my own leisure and didn't have to write a review. Written from the perspective of a ghost, I was initially unsure of where this book was going to go, but it actually became a book that I couldn't get out of my head and just had to keep picking it up to read.  Livvy is knocked down by a car and killed the Christmas before last, but she isn't ready to pass over just yet and she has one chance left to make everything right and give her family the perfect Christmas they deserve. The blurb for this did actually say that it was hilarious and a little heartbreaking, but although I still enjoyed this, I didn't think it was funny and it was incredibly heartbreaking! I also had a lot of frustration with Livvy as a main character. She was so selfish and no matter how many times she was shown the right way, she ignored it and did only what was best for her. A little bit outside the box, romantic fiction wise, but still a book I just had to keep reading.

2. How to Stuff Up Christmas by Rosie Blake 
Having really liked Rosie's debut and really enjoyed it's lightheartness, so was eager to read Rosie's next book. How to Stuff Up Christmas is again a very enjoyable, lighthearted (although sad in places) story that once again had me laughing and gave me a form of escapism. Eve is also looking for an escape, her now ex-boyfriend Liam cheated on her and Eve doesn't want to be around at Christmas with all the memories of last year. Eve decides to get away from it all by going on a pottery course over Christmas in Pangbourne and ends up staying in a gorgeous little houseboat. But Eve might be in for an unexpected surprise this Christmas. This was another wonderful, funny and lighthearted read to read this Christmas from Rosie and I look forward to her next story.

3. The Winter Wedding by Abby Clements
Abby is an author who I discovered for myself this year and her book The Winter Wedding has so far been my favourite. The story starts with a lovely prologue of Hazel and her twin Lila and a little background into their story. Chapter one then starts from present day and I already knew I was going to love this story. Abby's books are always so easy to read and are pure escapism. They are like real-life, but not in anyway depressing, it just feels like you are escaping into another person's world and it's nice to forget your own worries for a while.

4. Lily and the Christmas Wish by Keris Stanton
This was such a cute, magical story that I picked up and then realised I had finished it within 2 hours. Lily and the Christmas Wish is a great read for all ages and the fact that I finished this so quickly, shows you how easily it was to get lost in this gorgeous little story. Lovely Christmas read for all ages that manages to be diverse in its storytelling.

5. Every Time A Bell Rings by Carmel Harrington
Inspired by the beautiful film that is It's a Wonderful Life, comes the story of Belle, who has to make the hardest decision of her life on the Ha'Penny Bridge in Dublin. I have so much love for this absolutely stunning book. Carmel is one of my favourite authors, but this is my all time favourite book of hers. As with the story, It's A Wonderful Life (if you haven't then you must!) you come away feeling that life is not so bad after all, just that sometimes you need to look at things a little differently to truly appreciate what you've got. A simply stunning, heartwrenching but heartwarming read that my best read this Christmas.

6. Follow Me by Angela Clarke 
The only thriller I read this month was Follow Me by Angela Clarke and what a unique thriller it was. This is a brilliant modern day thriller that has a unique take on the social media obsessed of us today. This is what mainly had me so fascinated to read this, as despite social media being so prevalent in what we do in our day to day lives, I had not come across a novel that actually had it as the main focus and a murder focus at that! Full of hidden agendas and lots of mystery around the central characters, this is a very dark and cryptic tale that will easily keep you on the edge of your seat and constantly guessing.

7. A Vintage Christmas by Trisha Ashley
Being a Trisha Ashley fan, I simply had to download this short Christmas novella of hers. This was an enjoyable read about preparing for a Vintage Wedding at Christmas time, that was easy to get into. My only gripe was that it was too short and think it would have been better if had been made into a full length story.

8. Granny's Christmas Wish by Julia Williams
This was a free short story from Julia in relation to Make a Christmas Wish, but told in the perspective of Livvy's Mum. I really liked the idea of releasing short novellas of main stories from other characters points of view. Even though this has a teaser of the main story, I would say read the main story first before reading this as doesn't make much sense otherwise. Other novellas related to this were Dad's Christmas Wish and My Christmas Wish.

Thank you December for some very festive reads.