December Reading Wrap Up: Books I Read in December

Hello friends!

This December I read some pretty great (and not so great) books that I am so excited to share with you all. In terms of reading, I didn’t read as many books as I normally do because of finals week and Blogmas, but I still had a great reading month and read 12 books!

Stats

Books Read: 12
Physical Books Read: 3
Audiobooks Read: 6
E-books Read: 1

5 stars: 1 book
4.5 stars: 1 book
4 stars: 1 book
3.5 stars: 3 books
3 stars: 2 books
2 stars: 1 book
1.5 stars: 1 book
1 star: 1 book
no rating: 1 book

In the order I read them (if you want a full review, click the title of the book!):

In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren / 3.5 stars- This was a lot of fun and a great atmospheric read for Christmas time. However, I didn’t really find the romance to be believable and didn’t connect with any of the characters. Everything felt surface level and the addition of the time loop was never explained… it just stopped happening randomly. It was still cute and quick, though!

This is My America by Kim Johnson / 4.5 stars – This book was absolutely incredible! The author addresses so many topics in this book, such as systematic racism, the KKK, and the death penalty. I learned so much reading this book and it honestly gave me so much insight into what America really looks like for minorities in our country.

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott / 4 stars- I finally got around to reading this brick of a book! It was very cute and definitely made me cry, but it was just so long. I listened to the audiobook which definitely helped speed things up, because I think physically reading it would have made my rating drop drastically. But I loved the sisters in this book and their dynamic. Very cute!!

Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam / 3.5 stars- I have read multiple books in verse this year, and unfortunately I didn’t mesh with this writing style as much as I would have liked to. However, this was still such a powerful story and contains actual poems that Yusef wrote in prison. This still really impacted me, even if the writing style wasn’t my favorite.

A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A. Brown / 5 stars- The more I think about this book, the more I fall in love with it! Everything about this story was so incredible: the characters, the romance, the angst, the magic… it was just everything I dreamed it would be and more. This is a book that reminded me why I love fantasy so much because it helped me escape from the reality of the pandemic and 2020 in general.

Christmas Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella / 3 stars- This is the first Sophie Kinsella book I read and I must say it was a lot of fun! This was a great light-hearted, fluffy Christmas read, but it did lack a driving plot so I found myself a bit bored at times. I don’t think this is a story that will stick with me, but I am still happy I read it because it was very enjoyable!

Where Dreams Descend by Janella Angeles / 3.5 stars- I finally got to this book after months of saying I would! Overall, this was a lot of fun and I loved the atmosphere in the story. The second half of the book was a bit too romance heavy for me, especially considering the first half mostly focused on the magic competition. The ending felt a bit rushed as well. But it was still a great read and I will definitely be picking up the sequel!

My Plain Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows / 3 stars- I think my expectations going into this were too high because I loved My Lady Jane so much. This is a Jane Eyre retelling, which is a story I am not familiar with which may have hindered my enjoyment. But the writing was still fun and witty so I flew through this book.

Fairy Godmothers INC. by Saranna DeWylde / 1.5 stars- This book was just not it. The romance was not enjoyable, the characters were bland, there was no conflict or plot… I was just so bored the entire time I read it. It would have been a DNF, but I had to write a review on it since I received it as an ARC.

Star Daughter by Shveta Thakrar / 2 stars- This is another book that was really close to being a DNF, but I couldn’t make myself do it because the cover is so stunning. I just didn’t really care about the main character (I couldn’t tell you anything about her), and while there was a conflict, the stakes didn’t feel very high. It was just kind of boring, in my opinion.

The Tea Dragon Society by Katie O’Neill / no rating- I don’t rate graphic novels, but if I did it would definitely be a 5 star read! This was absolutely the cutest thing I have ever read, and really made me wish that tea dragons were real because WOW I want one! The art in this was so stunning, and complimented the story so well. I will definitely be reading the rest of the books in this series.

Majesty by Katharine McGee / 1 star- Ummm yeah what the heck was this?? I gave American Royals 5 stars, so this was so disappointing. The author undid literally everything she created in the first book. It felt like she couldn’t decide where she wanted the story to go, so she ruined all the relationships the reader was so invested in book 1. This was just so frustrating to read and I honestly only finished it so I could hate on it.

And that concludes this month’s wrap up! Leave me your wrap ups in the comments below!