Title: Loathe to Love You

Series: The STEMinist Novellas 1-3

Author: Ali Hazelwood

Under One Roof
An environmental engineer discovers that scientists should never cohabitate when she finds herself stuck with the roommate from hell—a detestable big-oil lawyer who won’t leave the thermostat alone.

Stuck with You
A civil engineer and her nemesis take their rivalry—and love—to the next level when they get stuck in a New York elevator.

Below Zero
A NASA aerospace engineer’s frozen heart melts as she lies injured and stranded at a remote Arctic research station and the only person willing to undertake the dangerous rescue mission is her longtime rival.

3 novellas,
Just what I wanted, needed even!
Spicy, adorable, addictive, fabulous,
Loved every minute of them!

Under One Roof
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
100% loved it.
Adored it.
Want to read it again and again!

Mara and Liam find themselves living together, and lets just say it’s not love at first sight…..or is it?!

Mara has the right outlook on life: ‘See, that’s the thing I hate the most about adulting: at some point, one has to start doing it.’

Her and Liam’s secret pining for each other was  a joy to behold! ‘Maybe that’s what he majored in at Dartmouth: Snow Shovelling. Nicely complemented by a minor in Muscles.’

Stuck With You
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
It all starts with a croissant!

And what it leads to is hot with a capital H!

Erik Nowak, Scandinavian, viking-like god and Sadie Grantham, both engineers, both totally into each other…..with drama!

Below Zero
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Hannah and Ian Floyd, Mara’s cousin or something!!!

Commitment-phobe Hannah is at NASA and so is Ian…..they hit it off….until they don’t…..but then he’s her knight in shining (snow) armour when she needs someone most!

That extended epilogue, loved it x 100!

Happy New Year!

Wishing you health and happiness in the New Year ahead. And, of course loads of fab books!

Fairyloot Adult – December 2022

Faerie Lore

A professor who journeys to a small town in the far north to study faerie folklore and discovers dark fae magic, friendship and love.

Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries

Exclusive cover colourway
Stenciled edge
Foiled hardcover by @chattynora
Endpaper art by @kudriaken
Signed

I decided to try Storygraph this year in tandem with Goodreads and really enjoyed it.

Instead of sharing my Goodreads stats I’m going to share Storygraph stats!

I had a brilliant reading year! I’ve read more books this year than I have in years and I don’t really know why!

~ I smashed my reading goal of 150 by reading 174 books!

~ I sprinkled round those stars and read a lot of pages!

~ New to me for stats this year (because of Storygraph) was genre and format:

I wasn’t surprised at the number of pages picture but I was shocked that I read more ebooks than print! I would’ve said it would be a 50/50 split!

But look at this! I really need to up my non-fiction game!

I think for 2023 I will carry on using both Storygraph and Goodreads as I can’t seem to let Goodreads go and I love the stats on Storygraph. It’s no bother doing 2 each time I read a book, literally takes seconds!

I pull these out every year because I love them and it sums this period up really!

Hope you enjoy them as much as I do!!!!

Title: Midnight in Everwood

Author: MA Kuzniar

There’s nothing Marietta Stelle loves more than ballet, but after Christmas, her dreams will be over as she is obligated to take her place in Edwardian society. While she is chafing against such suffocating traditions, a mysterious man purchases the neighbouring townhouse. Dr Drosselmeier is a charming but calculating figure who wins over the rest of the Stelle family with his enchanting toys and wondrous mechanisms.

When Drosselmeier constructs an elaborate set for Marietta’s final ballet performance, she discovers it carries a magic all of its own. On the stroke of midnight on Christmas Eve, she is transported to a snowy forest, where she encounters danger at every turn: ice giants, shadow goblins and the shrieking mist all lurk amidst the firs and frozen waterfalls and ice cliffs. After being rescued by the butterscotch-eyed captain of the king’s guard, she is escorted to the frozen sugar palace. At once, Marietta is enchanted by this glittering world of glamorous gowns, gingerbread houses, miniature reindeer and the most delicious confectionary.

But all is not as it seems and Marietta is soon trapped in the sumptuous palace by the sadistic King Gelum, who claims her as his own. She is confined to a gilded prison with his other pets; Dellara, whose words are as sharp as her teeth, and Pirlipata, a princess from another land. Marietta must forge an alliance with the two women to carve a way free from this sugar-coated but treacherous world and back home to follow her dreams. Yet in a hedonistic world brimming with rebellion and a forbidden romance that risks everything, such a path will never be easy.

‘It is dangerous to dream, Marietta. It will fill your head with tales sweet as sugarplums, until reality is nothing but disappointment.’

But Marietta does dare to dream and finds herself in Everwood, a mystical village in another world called Celstra.

‘Why, you have discovered the delights of Everwood, of course. A land of sugar and ice, Enchanted beyond measure.’

Everwood was such a magical place. The descriptions made me feel so festive (and also cold and hungry!!!!)

However Marietta got right on my wick! I’m all up for a girl setting her own path but she had no actual means, was just rude to everyone and she was a self-centred, spoiled girl! Although saying this, in the last quarter of the book she did get better! Maybe it’s what she was taught!

So in conclusion, this book was magical and I do wonder if Marietta and Legat did ever see each other again?

Top Ten Tuesday is featured by That Artsy Reader Girl. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

Topic: Most Recent Additions to My Book Collection (What books did you get as presents this holiday season? Or what did you buy with gift cards?)

My family don’t tend to get me books for Christmas so this year I took matters into my own hands!!!! I joined in Secret Santa with some book friends, work gave me a National Book Token voucher and I got 2 book boxes so Happy Christmas to me!!!!

The Luminaries by Susan Denard
Make You Mine This Christmas by Lizzie Huxley-Jones
A Far Wilder Magic by Allison Saft
Dark Rise by CS Pacat
Fine Print by Lauren Asher
What Hunts Inside The Shadows by Harper L Woods

I also preordered Gothikana by Runyx too!

What books did you get for Christmas?

HAPPY BOXING DAY!!!

Boxing Day in the UK

Boxing Day in the UK is the day after Christmas Day, December 26, and is a public Bank Holiday.

Traditionally, it was a day when employers distributed money, food, cloth or other valuable goods to their employees in boxes.

Now it’s a day that brings the start of the post-Christmas sales and also is a time to recover from the excesses of Christmas Day!!!!!

Boxing Day is the day me and my whole family get together to celebrate Christmas. We swap gifts, have food, play games and have a drink together.

Happy Christmas to you all!

“I hope the magic of Christmas fills every corner of your heart and home with joy — now and always.”

I’ll probably be off here until the 27th as we have stuff planned so hope you all have a lovely time filled with fun, family and food! 🎅