Month: December 2020

Closing the Chapter: December 2020

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Welcome to Closing the Chapter! I hope you had a great reading month?

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and are getting ready for the arrival of 2021? We had a lovely Christmas only marred slightly by the dreaded c word and held our family gatherings on Zoom instead of in person and we went back into Tier 3 because of the new strain.  When will this ever end?  

My reading month started off strong and although I did veer off my tbr list slightly, it was such a great reading month (apart from the 2 dnf’s!)

📚 Physical/e-books


How The King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories by Holly Black
See my review here.

The Iron King by Julie Kagawa
See my review here.

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Bound by Blood Anthology by Cora Reilly
See my review here.

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The Charmed Wife by Olga Grushin
See my review here.

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Depends on Who’s Asking by Lani Lynn Vale
See my review here.

Famine by Laura Thalassa
See my review soon!

Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko
See my review soon!

🎧 Audio

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Midnight Sun by Stephanie Meyer
See my review soon!

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern and Truthwitch by Susan Dennard were both unforts dnf’s for me.

What did you read in December?

Audiobook Challenge 2021 – I’m in!

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Grab your earbuds and join hosts Caffeinated Reviewer and That’s What I’m Talking About for the 2021 Audiobook Challenge! Choose your level and rock your ears off!

I did this challenge for 2020 and it really started me on my audio journey so I’m hoping for 2021 that I can listen the hell out of some great books!

This year I’m starting out cautiously and going for the achievement of Socially Awkward which is 15-20 listens (but secretly hoping I can best that and go for Binge Listener but we shall see!)

Anyway, the details are:

Challenge Details

  • Runs January 1, 2021 – December 31, 2021. You can join at any time.
  • The goal is to find a new love for audios or to outdo yourself by listening to more audios in 2020 than you did in 2018.
  • Books must be in audio format (CD, MP3, etc.)
  • ANY genres count.
  • Re-reads and crossovers from other reading challenges are allowed.
  • You do not have to be a book blogger to participate; you can track your progress on Goodreads, Facebook, LibraryThing, etc.
  • If you’re a blogger grab the button and do a quick post about the challenge to help spread the word. If you’re not a blogger you can help by posting on Facebook or Tweet about the challenge.
  • Updates plus a giveaway will be posted twice during the year. The first update will be July 2, 2021, and the last update will take place on December 30, 2021.

Achievement Levels

  • Newbie (I’ll give it a try) 1-5
  • Weekend Warrior (I’m getting the hang of this) 5-10
  • Stenographer (can listen while multitasking) 10-15
  • Socially Awkward (Don’t talk to me) 15-20
  • Binge Listener (Why read when someone can do it for you) 20-30
  • My Precious (I had my earbuds surgically implanted) 30+
  • Marathoner (Look Ma No Hands) 50+
  • Over-Achiever (Power Listener) 75+
  • The 100 Club (Audiobook Addict) 100+

Don’t forget to use the hashtag #2021AudiobookChallenge on social media to alert others of your listens and progress!

My December Haul!

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Ooo December I thought, I won’t be getting many books in December. I can make a head start on my tbr and get the total down before 2021 hits.

Well. It didn’t quite pan out like that. Does it ever?

I did get some money for Christmas and I am going to get some books with it but….I need to sit down and see what I want first, you know, strategically plan so there are no Christmas books here….yet!

📚 Physical/e-books


The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

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Depends on Who’s Asking by Lani Lynn Vale

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The All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness

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City of Fallen Angels and City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare

📑 Arcs

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Tales from the Hinterland by Melissa Albert

🎧 Audio

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The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

🧚‍♀️Fairyloot


Master of One by Jaida Jones and Dani Bennett

So tell me what you hauled in December and what you got for Christmas!

Do you IG?!

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Enquiring minds want to know (and I’m always looking for bookish accounts to follow!)
I post daily and am practicing with my photos to make them better and better. Practice makes perfect I think the saying goes!

If you would like to drop me a follow, my user name is CJRTB_BB and the long link is: https://www.instagram.com/cjrtb_bb

I took part in Best Reads of 2020 with a few IG friends and these are some reads I chose and pictures I made:

Let me know what your IG is as I would love to come and take a look!

My user name is CJRTB_BB

Long link is: https://www.instagram.com/cjrtb_bb

Blogmas: My Best Books of 2020…..

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Well here we are, nearly the end of the year.

But what a year it’s been. Probably the most worrying, surreal year of my (and countless others) life!

I began plotting Blogmas posts very early on in the year because Christmas brings me so much joy and I really needed that at some points!

Another thing that brings me joy is reading…and these are my ‘best books’ of 2020 (not necessarily released then, I read then!)

You can see my half year update here.

Here are the books from the 2nd half of the year (and there are a few!!!):

Mirage by Somaiya Daud

See my review here.

Viper by Bex Hogan

See my review here.

The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna

See my review here.

Shielded by Kaylynn Flanders

See my review here.

Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco

See my review here.

Fable by Adrienne Young

See my review here.

The Illuminae Files

See my reviews here, here and here.

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

See my review here.

Well that’s it. Loads of absolute gems in 2020 to make up for the cruddy year in real life!!!!

Fairyloot Unboxing: December 20 – Thick as Thieves *SPOILERS*

Fairyloot
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Fairyloot – December 2020
Theme = THICK AS THIEVES!

‘No expression can describe real close friendships better than ‘thick as thieves’ and this theme is all about stories with groups of friends or found families that go on adventures, share secrets and get up to all sorts of shenanigans − which might sometimes even involve saving the world from imminent doom.’

Items inspired by The Hobbit, Throne of Glass, Children of Blood and Bone and The Raven Boys.

Included was:

🖤 Beanie inspired by The Hobbit featuring artwork by @jezhawk
🖤 Secret book designed by @noverantale (this is the 4th and last)
🖤 Letter Opener inspired by Throne of Glass and has all of the Wyrd Marks!
🖤 Notepad inspired by Children of Blood and Bone with artwork by @eunicify.art


🖤 2021 Calendar featuring artwork by @dominiquewesson Inspired by Throne of Glass, A Darker Shade of Magic, The Gilded Wolves, Scythe, Percy Jackson and Dance of Thieves.
🖤 Tarot Cards designed by @arz28 and continuing the House of Earth and Blood theme.
🖤 The Raven Cycle artwork illustrated by @_saintdri

📚 BOOK OF THE MONTH 📚

Master of One by Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett

  • SIGNED BY BOTH AUTHORS ✔
  • EXCLUSIVE EDITION ✔
  • FOIL DESIGN ON HARDCOVER ✔
  • SHIMMERY SPRAYED EDGES ✔
  • ARTWORK ON REVERSE OF JACKET ✔

(by @bloodydamnit)

Blogmas: My Challenges – a close!

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Merry Blogmas!!!

Here we are at nearly the end of the year and a time of reflection!  Now, those challenges  – did I make it?  Did I get the badge of Socially Awkward in the Audiobook Challenge?  Did I hit my Goodreads goal?  Lets find out!

Audiobook Challenge

Firstly, you can see my original post here. and my update post here.

I went for the Socially Awkward level which means you have listened to 15 to 20 books in the year. By June I had listened to 11 and now I can reveal that now I have listened to a total of 17 so I did it = woohooo!

The books I listened to for the last half of the year were:

  • Elementals: Ice Wolves by Amie Kaufman – see my review here.

  • Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow – see my review here.

  • Gideon The Ninth by Tamsyn Muir – see my review here.

  • The Once and Future Witches by Alix E Harrow – see my review here.

  • Obsidio by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman – see my review here.

  • Truelife by Jay Kristoff – look out for my review soon!

 

Goodreads Challenge


For 2020 I went for a lower goal this year.  I set at 55 as I wanted to savour every word but by August I needed to up that so went for an ambitious 92….and I hit that in November so I left it as that and thought anything more is a bonus!