Christmas and Winter reads

Sorry I've been MIA for the last month, but life happened and I've been in a reading slump, again. BUT I bring you today a post with a bunch of Christmas and Winter reads since it's my favorite time of year and I want to make the best of it. So let's start:

I don't know about you, but when I think about books to read this time of year it's either classics - because you can actually drink a hot beverage while reading them, and because I love reading classics when it's cold. Books that take place during the Winter or the holiday season. Books with snow. Fluffy books and books with baking - because I always bake my way through December. Oh, and massive books so you can just snuggle up in a blanket and stay there for the rest of the day.




Two years ago, when I first met my boyfriend, I read Dash and Lily's Book of Dares and I absolutely loved it. The summary basically tells you what happens in the first chapter, but the story is so much more. Normally I hate when the summary tells you what happens in the first chapter and not what the whole book is about, but I loved it when it came to this one.
It's such a cute and fluffy read and there's lots of snow and romance involved. (YA)




I read Let it Snow last Christmas when me and my family just moved into our new house and it made the process easier because I had a fluffy read whenever I became stressed or irritated (I hate moving). I remember loving all 3 stories, but I think I preferred the first one. I also loved how the stories where intertwined without it being confusing. This one is also a Christmas and a Winter story with lots of snow and holiday cheer! (YA)



I think the majority of people have either read, seen or just heard about The Grinch that Stole Christmas. I have watched the movie every Christmas season for as long as I can remember but I read the book for the first time last year and I loved it. The movie and the book is at the same time alike but not alike. For once I enjoy both of them and I think everybody HAVE to read this book. (Children's)




I read A Christmas Feast and other stories last month, I think, and I loved it. It's an anthology with a bunch of Christmas stories and I adored it. I read it in a single day and for a person who normally hate anthologies I would say that that is quite fast. If you're intrigued you can read my review here. It will definitely put you in a Christmas mood with all the lovely Christmas romances! (Adult)




You can't make any list without a Rainbow Rowell book! Since her newest one is set during Wintertime it's perfect. I actually read Landline during the summer, since that's when it was released, but it really should be read during the holiday season. Nevertheless I loved it and it's definitely going to be one of my favorites for quite a while. (Adult)
I read Fangirl last Christmas so maybe that's why it reminds me of it, but I do believe it has a Christmas feel to it as well. (YA)





I started reading this the other day and so far I'm really enjoying it. My True Love Gave to Me is another anthology made up of Christmas stories and it's quite popular at the moment. (YA)





Other books and stories:

• Harry's First Christmas by G. Norman Lippert. It's a very short, short story about Harry's first Christmas and you can find it here for free. You can also just read the original Harry Potter series, there's always a part about Christmas in each book and I do love re-reading a childhood favorite during Christmas
• I am Scrooge: A Zombie Story for Christmas. I have this one waiting for me on my shelf, unread. It's about 150 pages and it's a 'parody' of A Christmas Carol. I can't really recommend it since I haven't read it yet - but I do know that it's about Christmas. 
• 'Twas the Night before Christmas and Other Christmas Stories. I read a third of this last year and I enjoyed it. It's an anthology with Christmas stories for kids. 
• A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Books by Charles Dickens. This is another book I have lying on my shelf, unread. I know that I absolutely love A Christmas Carol, but I don't know about the other stories. 
• I absolutely love reading fairytales during the Christmas season. And The Ice Queen by H.C. Andersen is perfect for Winter. Jackson Pearce also wrote a fairytale re-telling of this called Cold Spell. 
• When it comes to classics I think The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is perfect! I also love reading Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen this time of year 
• Some chick-lit to get in the Christmas mood: Cold Feet at Christmas by Debbie Johnson - I think this sounds so intriguing and I can't wait to start reading it. 
• And lastly a mystery/thriller for Christmas: Dying for Christmas by Tammy Cohen

Are there any books I've forgotten or should know about? 

*

A Christmas Feast and Other Stories by Katie Fforde

Series: N/A, Standalone, Anthology

Publication date: December 4, 2014

Publisher: Arrow

Genres: Women's fiction, Adult

Format: eArc

Source: The publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Pages: 240

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A delicious Christmas feast of short stories from the Sunday Times No. 1 bestselling author of A French Affair and The Perfect Match. 

Add some extra sparkle to your Christmas by joining Katie Fforde for a perfect, romantic Christmas feast of short stories. Collected together for the first time and including one brand new story.

Make your Christmas wishes come true...

Includes and exclusive sneak preview of Katie's new novel, A Vintage Wedding, coming in February 2015. 

Normally I don't like anthologies but I loved this! This was also my very first Katie Fforde book and it's definitely an excellent first impression.
One of the things I loved most about this book, or rather the stories, was the diversity; we have an elder couple, we have people that's divorced and have kids and young people finding love. I loved that it's not only people who meet each other, some of them have history and some are about rekindling love.
I also enjoyed that there's shorter and longer stories, instead of just having short, shorts stories or stories that could basically be novellas. A Christmas Feast and From Scotland with Love are probably the longest.

This definitely put me in a Christmas mood!

Christmas Shopping (4/5)
This is one of the shorter ones and it's so adorable! It's a simple story about a woman meeting a guy at the Supermarket. It's so lovely in it's simplicity.

Run for Cover (3/5)
This is also quite short but quite funny as well. Let's just say it has something to do with bad relationships, grudges and charity. I laughed when I read the ending, this is probably the only one that have made me laugh out loud.

You're the One (5/5)
Oh god, this is such a cute story! This girl, Lisa, thinks the guy she's looking at is an old friend that could have been 'the one'. She actually walks up to him and the cutest thing happens. I smiled while reading this and I definitely recommend the book based on this story!

From Scotland with Love (5/5)
This was phenomenal! One of the reasons I loved this was probably because it involves an author and a PR girl at a publishing house. I devoured this and I liked that this was one of the longer ones because it gave the story enough time to grow and become wonderful.
I also loved being transported to Scotland with all the snow, atleast for a short while.

A Christmas Feast (4/5)
This is, obviously, the story the book is 'named' after. It was great but not as great as some of the others. It is also one of the longer ones which probably made it much more enjoyable since this is a story not to be rushed.

The Holiday of a Marriage (4/5)
This was great! I loved that it was an elderly couple instead of a young couple. I also loved that there where some troubles instead of it just being an idyllic relationship.

The rest of the stories are called: Love in the Afternoon (3/5), A Magazine Christmas (3/5), The Undercover Cook (4/5), Staying Away at Christmas (4/5), Pink Fizz and Macaroons (3/5) and Breakfast with Mr. Gillyflower (4/5). All of them, except A Magazine Christmas, were quite sweet.


I recommend this if you like love stories and happy endings! It's also a nice fluffy read and I think it got me out of a month-long reading slump.

Dewey's 24 hour Read-a-thon

Last year in October I discovered the 24-hour read-a-thon that takes place twice a year and I've failed both times I've participated. I was up for 12-15 hours the first time (12 hours in a row, then I slept and woke up and read for the remainder of the read-a-thon) and back in April I only read for 6-10 hours because I had things to do.
Both times I had a TBR that consisted of 4-8 books and I think that may have been a bad idea because I'm one of those people that have a hard time getting in to books, I have to read at least 50 pages before I know if I want to keep reading or not and most of the time I read those 50 pages quite slow. This time I want to do something different, I want to try my hardest to stay up for the whole 24 hours AND I will tackle a single big book this time instead of a bunch of short ones. I have 4 books I'm thinking about, now I just have to choose which one.

That's where you come in, which one of these do you think I should read, and why?




Opening meme
1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?
Denmark, Europe! 

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?
This time I'm trying the one-book stack and I've chosen Under the Dome since it fits October so well.

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?
I don't really have any snacks lined up, I'm more into drinks instead of snacks so I'm looking forward to my favorite tea and ice cold cranberry juice ^^

4) Tell us a little something about yourself!
I walked on a catwalk for the first time today in the most gorgeous gown ever! 

5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to?
This is my third time :)
As I mentioned I'm going to try the one-book stack for the first time. Since I'm sick and don't feel so well I don't know if I can stay up all night and read :/ 

Shameful Book Confessions

There's a tag on instagram called #shamefulbookconfessions and I have too many to share on such a small space so I figured I might as well write a whole post with my shameful book confessions.

1. I hated City of Bones and I haven't been able to read any of Cassandra Clare's books since, because I know I'll just be disappointed.

2. I have marked The Book Thief as DNF (did not finish) because I thought it was that bad. I wanted to love it but I didn't even like it.. I couldn't even bring myself to read half of it.

3. Pride and Prejudice is, probably, my favorite book of all-time and even though I have a beautiful box set of all of her books I've only ever read P&P.

4. I have started reading Fifty Shades of Grey and I actually like it, I don't think it's as bad as people say it is.

5. I bought the entire Game of Thrones box set almost a year ago and I've not even started it.

6. I consider myself a Potterhead but I've never read the books in English (only Danish) and it's so far back that I can't even remember if I've read Deathly Hallows or not

7. I hate reading series, I prefer reading standalones.

8. I've read the entire Percy Jackson and the Olympians series and I didn't even like it.

9. I forced myself through books 1 and 2 of the Lord of the Rings trilogy but I just couldn't finish the 3rd one. I recently gave them away because I know I'll never read them again.

10. I hate lending out my books

11. I hate most middle-grade books, I don't know why, but that genre/age-group is just not doing it for me

12. I actually really liked the Twilight saga and I've actually bought a box set of the entire series (I borrowed the books from my best friend the first time around). I've also read 'Twilight', the first book, 2 times.

13. I tried reading Vampire Academy a few months back and I couldn't get into it.

14. I've read Legend and Prodigy and I've no idea why because I didn't like or enjoy either of them

15. I judge books by their covers

The Rise and Rise of Tabitha Baird by Arabella Weir

Series: Tabitha Baird #1

Publication date: October 2, 2014

Publisher: Picadilly Press

Genres: Childrens

Format: Paperback - review copy

Source: Received from Picadilly Press in exchange for an honest review

Pages: 213

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When thirteen-year-old Tabitha Baird's parents split up, she moves with her mum and brother to live with Gran in London. (Gran who talks to - and, worse, FOR - her knitwear-adorned dog . . . Oh, the shame!)

And Tabitha has to start at a new school where she is determined to be the coolest, most popular girl, whatever it takes. But how will she keep her friends from finding out about her incredibly NOT-cool family?

I will keep this short to avoid spoilers

I just finished this this weekend and it was hilarious. I found Tabitha and her little brother, Luke, so weird and funny that this is a book you can't help but enjoy and, at times, laugh out loud - which means that this book is not bus- or train reading material, unless you like when people look at you funny.

This book is definitely targeted towards a younger age group but I found it funny nonetheless. Tabitha is this quirky character that have a hard time finding her place and ends up being the class clown and a real brat at her new school. I could definitely recognize myself in Tabitha sometimes, specifically about not fitting in and being bullied.
My favorite thing about this book is probably the relationship between Tab and Luke, it is so real and funny, it doesn't feel fake - which I generally think relationships between siblings often feel in books.
I also enjoyed the relationship between Tabitha and her two new friends Emz and A'isha. I liked that A'isha was a muslim, just to get some diversity in there, and I enjoyed that they were there for each other even though they're not that old. I also really liked the part where they befriend the 'nerd' Grace, she was really cool and I liked that they all thought she was a nerd and then at the end finds out that she's actually pretty cool. 
The ending is perfect - a real 'feel-good' ending. 

I flew through this book and I laughed quite a few times. All in all I think it was great, but at the same time it was missing something.

Reading Plans!

I have had a bit of a problem this year because I have received books for review and I’ve bought quite a few myself. Because of these books I’ve received for review I haven’t had the time to read the books I’ve bought and as a result I know have 100 unread books on my bookshelf. So how do I solve that problem? I actually got a solution on the problem, at least I hope it’ll work.

Every month I’ll read:

·      1-2 books from Netgalley

·      1 book from a Danish publisher (I receive 1 every single month),

·      1-3 books from Hot Key Books (unless I choose more)

·      and for the rest of the month I can read books from my shelves.

I know I won’t get my review pile drastically smaller, but I will get some reading done and I have a bunch of books from my shelves that I really really want to read soon. AND since December is my favorite month of the year, and since I also have to write an important paper in December I’ve decided that I can read whatever I want to read in December. Yay.

I’ve also decided that I seriously have to get a grip on my Netgalley addiction, so I can’t request books unless I want them more than anything else.

I'll probably also start making TBR's for each month, because it helps me decide which books from Netgalley I have to read (I can never decide when I look at the books on kindle). 

How do you juggle review books and your own books? 

Vivian versus the Apocalypse by Katie Coyle

Series: Vivian Apple #1

Publication date: September 5, 2013

Publisher: Hot Key Books

Genres: YA Contemporary 

Format: Paperback - review copy

Source: Received from Hot Key Books in exchange for an honest review

Pages: 287

Goodreads ⎜Amazon ⎜Book Depository

What happens to those who are left behind? 

Vivian Apple never believed in the Church of America - unlike her fanatical parents. And as for the so-called impending 'Rapture', she knew she'd believe that when she saw it. But then Vivian wakes one day to a New World, and all that's left of her parents are two empty spaces. The Believers have been taken, it seems. And for those left behind, the world is a desolate and eerie place. All Vivian has now are her memories and her volatile friend Harp.

Faced with society on the brink of collapse, Vivian and Harp embark on a journey across America, in search of any family they have left, and determined to expose the truth about the Rapture. Three thousand miles through floods, fog and heat waves, Harp and Vivian and a boy with the bluest eyes and the kindest heart are driving on to their future.

But will this be a coming-of-age road trip with no return?

I have no idea how to describe this book, it contains a some religion mixed with friendship, love and humor. With the ending you know that it's a contemporary, but along the way you're actually pretty confused. I know I laughed a bunch of times throughout this book and I also got quite confused when they embarked on this glorious road trip. Nevertheless I did enjoy this book and I definitely recommend it.

In this book we meet Vivian Apple, a 17-year-old who has no idea who or what she believes in. I could relate to Vivian, at one point I was a Christian with a capital C but along the years I've just lost my faith and I've found myself asking the question of what I actually believe in more times than I can count. I like that she doesn't just 'go along' with the religion because her parents are Believers, I admire her for standing up and saying no, I don't want to do this even if it means being left behind. I also really feel sorry for her because of her parents, I think Vivian has had it hard growing up because she has always tried to be the perfect daughter. I think Vivian is a great role model, through out the book she grows into this brave girl who isn't going to take shit from nobody.
We also meet Harp, Vivian's friend, and I think she's so quirky. Sometimes you just meet these wonderful characters that have a tough life and you can't help but love them. I felt sorry for Harp through the majority of the book but she's also a fighter and she aren't going to back down because her life's falling apart. She keeps on fighting even though she's scared and I think that's admirable.

I enjoyed reading the story, I enjoyed watching the characters grow and I really loved the humor in this book. It doesn't feel like the book is trying to persuade you into becoming religious, it's actually pretty sarcastic and snarky about the Church of America.

If you're looking for a book that's light but at the same time has some depth this is definitely the one for you.