My 2022 Goodreads Reading Challenge: November - December

The Christmas Wish by Lindsey Kelk

Newly single Gwen is hoping that a family Christmas will salve the sting of her career hanging by a thread and her heart being trampled on. Because everyone else has their life sorted: even Dev, her boy-next-door crush, is now a tall, dark and handsome stranger with a fiancée. Then Gwen wakes up to discover it's Christmas day all over again. Like Groundhog Day but with turkey. And family arguments. On repeat. As she figures out how to escape her own particular Christmas hell, Dev is the one bright spot. But how do you fall in love with someone who can't remember you from one day to the next?

This might now be my favourite Lindsey Kelk book of all time. I always love and appreciate Lindsey's pop culture references and there were some great ones in this. Seeing Gwen attempt to help each of her family members' wishes come true was a lovely way to give us a real insight into her relationship with each of them. Also, Dev made me wish that I had a next door neighbour/teenage crush. It's heartwarming, joyful, entertaining and immensely relatable. Basically, it's the perfect book to curl up with at Christmas. And it's packed with the wit and warmth that I come to expect from Lindsey.

Loathe To Love You by Ali Hazelwood

This collection features three stories you won't want to miss: Under One Roof: A scientist should never cohabitate with her annoyingly hot nemesis - it leads to combustion. Stuck With You: Nothing like a little rivalry between scientists to take love to the next level. Below Zero: It will take the frosty terrain of the Arctic to show these rival scientists that their chemistry burns hot.

I definitely enjoyed the amalgamation of these three interlinked novellas. And I've broken down my review of each of them in more detail on my Goodreads review. But when read one after the other, they were a bit repetitive, especially when it came to the descriptions of the men. They were all huge, hulking men with not much in the way of personalities. However, I did like the tropes that were covered in the three stories. The first one, Under One Roof, was probably my favourite thanks to its nice forced proximity/enemies to lovers storyline. For stories around 100 pages each, I can't complain too much.

Publication date: 3rd January 2022

Dear Dolly by Dolly Alderton

Since early 2020, Dolly Alderton has been sharing her wisdom, warmth and wit with the countless people who have written in to her Dear Dolly agony aunt column. Their questions range from the painfully - and sometimes hilariously - relatable to the occasionally bizarre. They include breakups and body issues, families, friendships, dating, divorce, the pleasures and pitfalls of social media, sex, loneliness, longing, love and everything in between.

I have a feeling that I would read anything by Dolly but I hadn't actually sought out her Dear Dolly columns. So I was very excited to give this a read. This is the perfect kind of book to dip in and out of and it's also one that I will no doubt revisit as my life progresses. I've actually written a full article with some of the life lessons that I've taken away from it. But my main takeaway was how reassuring it is. I also loved this particular quote; “keep putting love out into the world and it will come back to you in one way or another. That, I’ve learnt, is one of life’s only guarantees.”

Love In The Time Of Serial Killers by Alicia Thompson

PhD candidate Phoebe has always been obsessed with true crime. She's even analysing the genre in her dissertation - if she can manage to finish writing it. It doesn't help that she's low-key convinced that her new neighbour, Sam, is a serial killer (he may dress business casual by day, but at night he's clearly up to something). It's not long before Phoebe realises that Sam might be something much scarier - a genuinely nice guy who can pierce her armour to reach her vulnerable heart.

Now, I'm not entirely sure that this book markets itself completely correctly. However, if you go into it knowing that there is zero chance of an actual serial killer showing up, it is a quick, easy read. I could sympathise with Phoebe pushing people away and not wanting to get hurt. But I didn't understand what Sam truly saw in her. She was unnecessarily cruel at times, which was a bit hard to read. There were some nice steamy scenes. And I did like all of the true crime references throughout, especially as someone who has engaged with a fair bit of that genre.

A Merry Little Meet Cute by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone

When Bee takes the lead in a squeaky-clean romantic Christmas movie, there are only three rules: Don't get involved with anyone on set. Don't tell anyone what you do for a living. Seriously, don't get involved with anyone on set. But Bee's got a secret identity to hide. And it's not family-friendly. And her co-star, Nolan, an ex-boyband member infamous for his own x-rated antics, not only knows it, but is secretly her biggest fan. When things start to heat up on set, Bee and Nolan must keep this steamy affair under wraps, or risk ruining everything.

I was excited to get into the festive spirit with this one but I feel a little bit conflicted. I did enjoy that they were both secretly super fans of one another. But there wasn't quite enough of an emotional connection for me between Bee and Nolan. I never thought that I would get bored by how many spicy scenes there were. But after you've read a few of them, they start to feel rather repetitive. I also cringed a few times at the descriptions and words used during those encounters. I did like seeing the somewhat positive representation of plus size women, sex workers and sex more generally. But then other times, the way that Sunny or others are described feels almost caricature-ish.

The Last Housewife by Ashley Winstead

While in college in upstate New York, Shay and her best friends met a captivating man who seduced them with a web of lies about the way the world works, bringing them under his thrall. By senior year, Shay and her friend Laurel were the only ones who managed to escape. Now, eight years later, Shay's built a new life but when she hears the horrifying news of Laurel's death - delivered, of all ways, by her favourite true-crime podcast crusader - she begins to suspect that the past she thought she buried is still very much alive, and the predators more dangerous than ever.

This kept me riveted the whole way through but for some reason, it didn't have the same effect on me that I was expecting it to. I always find stories about cults incredibly fascinating and I liked the podcast recording chapters as more and more was revealed to us. But my main issue with this was the main character. Shay is incredibly unlikeable, which makes it difficult to root for her or care about her as much as we should. She also made so many decisions that just seemed plain stupid, dangerous or incredibly frustrating. But, as the trigger warnings outline, expect to see abuse of several different kinds and a lot of obviously unlikeable people.