All These Things That I Love - January 2018

A monthly round up of things that give me life. 

Tea.

I mean, it’s winter. I love the Teavana Joy (found on 50% clearance post-Christmas!) and Stash Christmas blends so much and now it’s the time of year where I hoard them and growl at hubs if I see him brewing himself a cup.

Moisturizers.

Again. Winter, y’all.  I layer on a few different ones from my collection.

I love anything with hyaluronic acid. (Not shown because my tween stole it)

And this lovely oil from Boscia that is apparently also what geishas use. Which is pretty appropriate for me, if you know me at all. lol

And the French use an olive oil liniment for the whole body, so I follow their lead because c’est Francais.

A fresh new planner. Hello lover.

The Good Place!  Julia Kelly and Alexis Anne had been telling me about this and I’m totally hooked now. I’m recommending it to a lot of families, too, because it’s something that could be watched with older kids (obviously, check it out for your kids first.)

I hope everyone's keeping warm and cozy this winter - staying hygge, if you will. 
Are you familiar with the concept of hygge?  Interested?

My next Mistletoe Key novella is called LOVE IN THE TIME OF HYGGE and it is NOT SOLD IN STORES! (what????) It's EXCLUSIVE to newsletter subscribers - subscribe here if you like cozy cashmere, hot Florida beaches and Lindsay Emory-style romance: http://eepurl.com/b5t7Uj

Best Books to Read Now - January 2018

Reminder/ Caveat/ Disclaimer: This is my (hopefully) monthly list of books I’ve read and enjoyed. These are not reviews, I do not include books I didn’t enjoy because life is too short to speak badly of books!

In the last WOMEN WITH BOOKS episode of 2017, I asked author Alexis Anne about her reading resolutions for 2018. Do you make any reading- related resolutions? I’ve decided to read from my TBR pile. It’s not from any sense of Puritanical guilt, but rather I started looking through my TBR lists and realized there were REALLY GOOD BOOKS in there that I really wanted to read, but I keep getting distracted by oh-shiny new books.

So in 2018, you might see some older books featured in this blog. But as I said in that same WOMEN WITH BOOKS episode, I think in this day and age, release dates aren’t as important to readers (now as an author, I must disagree, but that’s a long blog post in itself). What matters is when we discover a book as you’ll see….

A Christmas Gone Perfectly Wrong – Cecilia Grant

Amazon || iBooks

Yes, it’s a Christmas book. But look, consider your Christmas 2018 book shopping done already. This free novella was a sweet, beautiful holiday read. I read and adored Cecilia Grant’s A Lady Awakened last year (and wrote about it here) but I hadn’t heard about this holiday prequel for that series until some authors on Twitter decided to do a read along. If you’re interested in more commentary, do a search for #ACGPW on Twitter.

Wilde in Love – Eloisa James

Amazon || iBooks

I mentioned this as one of my most memorable books on the last episode of Women With Books, but this was (maybe? I think?) the first Eloisa James book I’ve read. I know. It’s pretty unbelievable. But I really enjoyed the effortlessness of this historical romance, along with the humor and characters. I’m looking forward to the next book in the series featuring the Wilde family

Eleventh Grave in Moonlight– Darynda Jones

Amazon || iBooks

We’re looking down the barrel at the end of the Charley Davidson series but this book was perfect for the holidays for me. Like an old, impossibly snarky friend.  I’ll probably try to dive into Book 12 in January and then it will be a little bit of a wait until book 13 is released later this year.

Sweet Tea & Sympathy – Molly Harper

Amazon || iBooks

In sum, I really hate Molly Harper now. I mean. That cover. That title. That series name. I'm desperately jealous of all of that and I want to live in this book all the time. It’s a romance/ family drama / women’s fiction blend type of book that will be the new trend of 2018 (you heard it here first…) that can make you laugh and cry and fist bump. I’m basically obsessed and totally not stalking Molly Harper at all.

A real life picture of Molly Harper and me (not) behind her.

Speaking of (not) stalking… in case you didn’t know, I have a podcast! It’s called Women With Books and we discuss genre fiction that’s for, by and about women.

Check it out at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play and Stitcher app. And here at womenwithbooks.com

I’d love for you to join the book club!

And if you want some free reading this year, I’ll be putting a chapter a month of my next Mistletoe Key novella, LOVE IN THE TIME OF HYGGE in my monthly newsletters!  Sign up here: http://eepurl.com/b5t7Uj

Keep reading!