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A Christmas Reading Challenge

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I’m putting together a new reading challenge for myself, a Christmas themed one…well, more a holiday themed one since it includes a few Hanukkah themed books and a Solstice story. But it’s mostly Christmas themed.

It’s only September, so it feels way too early to be thinking about the holidays. But if I want to finish a holiday challenge by Christmas, I have to give myself time to actually read the books. Which means starting about now. I’ve done this sort of thing before, though on a smaller scale.

I picked out the books with the super scientific method of scrolling through my TBR on Goodreads and picking out all that had obvious holiday themed covers or titles. I’m sure I missed some, but it still added up to a not insignificant number.

snowball-Image by StockSnap from PixabayWhat tends to happen over time is that I pick a few Christmasy titles up every year, thinking I’ll bask in the season. But, if I don’t read them immediately, they get dropped onto my TBR and forgotten about until the next Christmas. When I might or might not remember them. Then I pick up a few more, repeating the cycle. Thus, the pile of unread Christmas books snowballs, getting bigger every year.

The oldest on this list has been on my TBR since 2013! It will be especially satisfying to mark some of those titles that have been hanging around for while as ‘read.’

This year, I found 62 Christmas stories languishing on my shelves. Well, 58 Christmas, 3 Hanukkah ones, and 1 set during the Solstice. I don’t have enough to make a Hanukkah or Solstice challenge of their own. So, I’m including them here. Luckily, most of these 62 ‘books’ are pretty short (stories more than books, honestly). When I first thought to do this challenge the plan was to read all my holiday themed books. But then I saw how many there actually are. So, my revised goal is to read and review as many of them as I can by Dec. 25th.

I’ve broken them into batches, by length (Under 100 pages, 100-200, 200+). Let’s see what we have. (I know some have newer covers, but these are the editions I have.)

Under 100 pages:

2021 less than 100 pages christmas

Haunted by the Holidays, by Kathryn Blanche
A Private Miscellany, by K.J. Charles
Careened: Winter Solstice in Madierus, by Bey Deckard
Illicit Activity, by J.R. Gray
Christmas at the Wellands, by Liz Jacobs
Chasing Christmas Past, by Melanie Karsak
A Wizard for Christmas, by Dorothy McFalls
The Christmas Prince, by Liv Rancourt
God Rest Ye Merry Vampires, by Liv Rancourt
The Santa Drag, by Liv Rancourt
The Ugliest Sweater, by Gillian St. Kevern
Fred and Ginger, by Isobel Starling
The Greatest Gift, by Felice Stevens
Family, by Brigham Vaughn
Winter Spirit, by Indra Vaughn
Twist of the Magi, by Caren J. Werlinger
63 Days Later, by Adrienne Wilder

Plus, The Eighth Night, by Jenna Kendrick, as a bonus

100-200 page

2021 christmas 100-200 pages
Gingerbread Mistletoe, by Amy Aislin
In Case of Emergency, by Keira Andrews
A Wedding in Twinkle Falls, by Freda Ann
Will & Patrick Do the Holidays, by Leta Blake & Alice Griffiths
Charley’s Christmas Wolf, by C.D. Gorri
Mischief & Mistletoe, by Tanya Anne Crosby
Holiday Haunts, Wendy Dalrymple & Imogen Markwell-Tweed
Christmas Lites anthology, by Amy Eye and others
His Christmas Bride, by Merry Farmer
To Linzer & to Cherish, by Jen FitzGerald
A Christmas Gone Perfectly Wrong, by Cecilia Grant
Second Chances, by Kiska Gray
Cabin Love, by Hayden Hunt
Winter Blom, by D.J. Jamison
Bittersweets Christmas, by Suzanne Jenkins
Christmasly Obedient, by Julia Kent
Cold Feet, by Jay Northcote
Mine to Five, by Tara September
From out in the Cold, by L.A. Witt

Plus Solstice Surrender by Tracy Cooper-Posey and Highland Stranger by Kerrigan Byrne as Solstice bonuses.

200+ pages

christmas 2021 200+ pages

A Hopeful Christmas, by Anneka R. Walker, Sian Ann Bessey, Carla Kelly & Krista Lynne Jensen
The Problem With Mistletoe, Bring Me Edeweiss & Mistletoe in the Marigny, by Kyle Baxter
Mr. Frosty Pants & Mr. Naughty List, by Leta Blake
Merry Elf-ing Christmas, by Beth Bolden
The Christmas Lights Battle, by Skylar M. Cates
Christmas at Rosie Hopkins’ Sweetshop, by Jenny Colgan
Fighting for Us, by Bella Emy
Sleigh Spells, Bella Falls
A Wolf is not Just for Christmas, J.F. Holland
A Christmas Date, by Camilla Isley
Frosting Her Christmas Cookies, by Alina Jacobs
Naughty & Nice, by D.J. Jamison
Where We Begin, by Janey King
Last Blue Christmas, by Rose Prendeville
Smokin’ Hot Cowboy Christmas, by Kim Redford
Dreaming of a White Wolf Christmas, by Terry Spears
The Plight Before Christmas, by KateStewart
Shrewd Angel, by Anyta Sunday
A Christmas Promise, by K.C. Wells

Plus, Eight Kinky Nights by Xan West and The Remaking of Corbin Wale by Roan Parrish as Hanukkah bonuses.

While ‘read all your holiday themed books and short stories’ sounds deceptively easy, the challenge isn’t without it’s…well, challenges. First, very few of these happen to conveniently be the beginnings of series. The short stories especially tend to be bonuses for existing series. Mostly series I’ve read at least some of, otherwise I wouldn’t have picked up the short. But few in series I’m caught up with or have read recently. Most are contemporary romances and, frankly, I’ve not been reading much contemporary anything lately. So, many are outside my current reading preferences.  At least one of these I picked up on an Amazon free day because I thought the blurb sounded so problematic I wondered how the author would rescue it (if she could rescue it). One or two I’m not 100% are actually holiday themed, as opposed to just being set during late Winter. And there are just so many more than I expected when I thought up this challenge. Plus, I fully expect I’ll add a few more books to the list before I call the challenge finished on Christmas day. Either because I find them in my TBR between now and then or because I pick them up new this holiday season. Regardless, I’m going to do the best I can.  **ganbatte**

Other than knowing that I’ll review all of the short stories in a single post and that I’m going to prioritize physical books over ebooks, I’ve not entirely decided how I’ll be running the rest of this particular challenge—if I want to post reviews individually, in batches, one a day over a set time, all at once on Christmas day, etc. But I have time to figure that out. Regardless, I’ve got enough holiday cheer to keep me busy for a while. How about you? Anyone else have an unreasonable number of holiday themed books sitting around and want to join me getting them read this year?

Note: I’ve edited this post since first publishing it to add a few books and keep the tally up to date. I found some that I owned but had missed in Calibre and (because I have no self control), I picked up a few freebies this year.

santa-claus-Image by Igor Link from Pixabay

Just because he made me laugh

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Wrapping up the Wolf Marked reading challenge

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I had a lot of fun with the Wolf Marked reading challenge. As a reminder, three different books titled Wolf Marked were promoed on Sadie’s Spotlight fairly close together and I joked on Twitter that I should just read and review them all. Well, what started as a joke soon became reality and I decided to see if I could get hold of all of them. The last was a challenge since it wasn’t released yet. But I managed it and the battle of the wolf marked was on.

I set out to read Veronica Douglas‘ Wolf Marked, Alexis Calder’s Wolf Marked, and Harper Brooks’ Wolf Marked. I’ve accomplished it and it’s time to wrap the challenge up and call it done.

Being only three books long, I don’t know that it really needs a wrap-up post. But I think I do. It’s not until I write such a post that my mind stops going, “Oh, there’s another Wolf Marked (or whatever the challenge is), maybe I can add it in.” For example, I stumbled across Isabeau Cross‘ Wolf Marked book, and undoubtedly would have added it to the challenge if it was actually available now instead of next April.

So, to put a period on this challenge and call it truly finished, I’m bringing all three Wolf Marked reviews together.

Book Review: Wolf Marked, by Veronica Douglas

Book Review: Wolf Marked, by Alexis Calder

Book Review: Wolf Marked, by Harper A. Brooks

I’m reluctant to declare a winner. I didn’t love or hate any of them. If I was truly forced to rank them it would probably go Calder, Douglas, Brooks. But they’re all pretty neck-to-neck honestly. They did have a lot in common though. All the heroines were pretty close in age, there were a disproportionate number of red-heads with freckles, and (of course) they’re all destined to love werewolves (though not all did by the end of the book).

All in all, I’d call the whole endeavor a success.

 

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Book Review: Wolf Marked, by Veronica Douglas

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Veronica Douglas‘ Wolf Marked was promoed on Sadie’s Spotlight. And when I received the book tour packet from Xpresso Tours, it included a free ecopy of the book. Though I didn’t agree to review it for the tour, I did decide to read it. It’s the first book titled Wolf Marked that I am reviewing for my mini Wolf Marked Reading Challenge. I’m reading three books with this same title.

wolf marked veronica douglas

Werewolves are hunting me.

I was just an ordinary girl waiting tables in a small-town bar. I had no idea magic was real. That was, until I backed my car over a werewolf a couple times.

In my defense, the wolf was trying to murder me, and I was all out of mace.

Now I’ve got a cult of rogue wolves on my heels, and the only one who can protect me is Jaxson Laurent—the leader of the Chicago pack.

He suspects I’m special and can’t take his eyes off me, but the problem is—he’s the sworn enemy of my family. Every time we get close it feels like something is going to rip out of my soul, but the heat between us is irresistible.

With danger around every corner and wolves howling in the night, I need to master my magic and stand my ground, or I’ll be dead before the next moon rises.

An action-packed urban fantasy, Wolf Marked features a kick-ass heroine, a dangerous hero, and a steamy slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers romance.

This story is set in the wider Dragon’s Gift universe created by Linsey Hall, and if you enjoyed the archaeology, history, and daring in her books, this adventure is for you!

wolf marked veronica douglas

Review:
I largely enjoyed this, but thought it was a little unfocused; depending on the back and forwards between Sav and Jax to carry the tension. But I just felt a little whip-lashed between their supposed attraction and overt dislike of one another. I didn’t particularly feel their chemistry. But I liked them both. I liked how independent Sav was and how willing she was to go out on her own. And I liked that Jax was legitimately trying to protect his people and Sav, even if he wanted to strangle her too. I also thought Casey was hilarious and appreciated the abundance of strong female pack members, especially since jealousy over male attention wasn’t included as a plot device.

The book is set in a world created and opened by another author, Linsey Hall apparently. I suppose that makes this a spin-off of a sort and you feel it. Certainly, the death of Jax’s sister felt like it is the plot of another book somewhere. I don’t know if it is, mind you, but it feels like it is. The book is perfectly readable though, just kind of has that spin-off feel.

I found the villain easy to guess and the mystery around Sav is fairly obvious, even if we’re not technically told what it is here in this book. Plus, there’s some annoying repetition in the writing, All in all though, I had fun and will happily read another book in the Magic Side: Wolf Bound series.

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