Happy 2023!

 

I'll be taking next week off, so come back here on the 10th January!

 

Wishing you all the best 💙

xx

*image not mine

Tome Thursday: Lumberjack under the Tree

 

Hello everyone!

 

And welcome to the last book review of 2022.

 

That's right, we're headed into 2023 at full-tilt now, which means that we're only about one blog post away from completely wrapping up.

 

So I picked what I hope is a good one.

 

At least, I liked it!

 

Which is saying something given I can be the world's harshest critic sometimes, even if I like the other books written by the same author.

 

But that's beside the point.

 

Thing is, I wanted a do-over from the book I DID pick from Keira Andrews for this holiday season, which I didn't love as much as I hoped to. I was cautiously optimistic about her novella, however.

 

And boy, did it turn out to be more than just alright!

 

Lumberjack under the Tree brings all the holly jolly you may have missed, plus more.

 

Talkie Tuesday: Our Italian Christmas Memories

 

"Family's where you act the worst, but are loved the best."

 

Hello everyone!

 

And here we are, we made it!

 

The last movie review of 2022, ladies and gentlemen, and although I wish I would have picked something a little more my speed in terms of how much I enjoyed it, this one still nails a couple of points along the way.

 

I knew it was going to be like this, however.

 

The first two movies of the review-show were much too good to be true, so naturally the follow-up was NEVER going to live up to the hype!

 

Ah well.

 

You win some, you lose some, right?

 

So without further ado, let's jump right into the holiday search for a delicious Italian sugo, as well as some common family decency, with Our Italian Christmas Memories.

 

Saturday Snippet: Merry Christmas

 

Happy holidays, everyone!

 

xx

*image not mine

Tome Thursday: Holiday Hat Trick

 

Hello everyone!

 

Can you believe there's almost only a week left for this calendar year?

 

I can't.

 

Time has LITERALLY flown by, and it's something that I haven't been able to really fathom, or figure out how to slow the entire thing down if I'm being honest with myself.

 

And now I'm staring at the end of the year and thinking 'where did the time go?'

 

But aside from that, we do in fact have another holiday story to look through, and it's another one about second chances.

 

Holiday ones usually are, come to think of it. People seem to be in a forgiving mood.

 

And in this one I return to the love of ice hockey while I'm at it, because I miss reading books on the topic. I may need to do some digging and find others in the genre again!

 

For now though, Holiday Hat Trick will just have to do the job twice as hard.

 

Talkie Tuesday: Long Lost Christmas

 

"Love's a risk, but it's the one thing that makes life worth living."

 

Hello everyone!

 

We only have a few days left until Christmas ACTUALLY arrives.

 

How crazy is that?!

 

I have no idea where the time has gone, but I'll say this: it obviously had a VERY good time, all things considered.

 

There's only about ten days left before the year turns as well, and I'm over here thinking to myself how and where.

 

But me maudlin will certainly not make this blog post write itself now, will it?

 

I've decided to finish off my Christmas movie marathon with the segment of Hallmark that I tend to enjoy more than Countdown to Christmas, which is Miracles of Christmas.

 

I don't know, the mysteries seem to get me!

 

And Long Lost Christmas might not have fired on all cylinders, but it definitely fired on some.

Saturday Snippet: Advent

 

Happy 4. Advent!

 

xx

*image not mine

Tome Thursday: The Christmas Leap

 

Hello everyone!

 

This feels like it's a bit of a trend now, if I'm being completely honest.

 

And it probably is!

 

I mean, thus far, we've been surprised and excited by a Christmas-themed book every year for several consecutive years in a row when it comes to Keira Andrews.

 

Is it any surprise whatsoever that there would be ANOTHER one this year?

 

AND the promise of what's hopefully going to be a new one in 2023, too!

 

But I'm starting to just meander without purpose.

 

Keira Andrews was probably the first gay romance author I ever stumbled upon when I was trying to find books that I'd thoroughly enjoy in that particular genre.

 

I've since read quite a few, potentially all of them from her, but I'd have to double check.

 

The Christmas Leap is a sequel to another one of her works, and I'll be telling you all about it down below.

 

Talkie Tuesday: Time for Him to come Home for Christmas

 

"When you're truly meant for someone, it's never too late to get it right."

 

Hello everyone!

 

Back for the second week of our Christmas movies, and we once again have what I'd consider a winner.

 

I think I've picked really good ones thus far this year, if I'm being honest.

 

And I've noticed, for my part, that I seem to have outgrown the old, girl goes home to small town for Christmas and meets her ex there again to rediscover the magic, trope.

 

Or maybe I just haven't found a good one with that this year yet.

 

Either way, tonight's movie choice is another really spectacular one, and it's actually part of Miracles of Christmas, which is the second programming batch that Hallmark usually puts out every year leading up to the holidays.

 

I picked it because of it's leading man, I'll admit, but it turns out the entire thing is really quite beautiful.

 

Time for Him to come Home for Christmas has a mouthful of a name, but I can assure you that it's really quite lovely.

 

Saturday Snippet: Christmas Tree(s)

 

xx

*image not mine

Tome Thursday: Mistletoe Misconduct

 

Hello everyone!

 

This week we're taking a bit of a walk down memory lane, if I'm being honest.

 

And I feel like I might have to go back and re-read the entire series from the beginning!

 

See, a while back, I ran into this book called Breakaway, by author Catherine Gayle. It wouldn't have caught my eye at all if not for the fact that it was a book about ... ice hockey.

 

I know, I know. I know what you're thinking.

 

What does ice hockey have to do with ANYTHING?

 

Turns out, rather a lot.

 

Because Ms Gayle wrote not only an (almost) whole series about an ice hockey team, but she included a couple of Christmas books in the lineup, too.

And because I really, really love the series as a whole, to the point where we've gotten at least, I decided to post about them on here.

We're starting with Mistletoe Misconduct.

Talkie Tuesday: The Royal Nanny

 

"Love always triumphs in the end."

 

Hello everyone!

 

And welcome.

 

Welcome, officially, to the December weeks of movie blog posts in which I take the time to look at what this holiday season has to offer us.

 

Thus far, we're looking at a pretty darn good start all in all!

 

Last week, we started with the book review, which we thoroughly enjoyed, and this week, well.

 

This week is a VERY good movie, shall we say.

 

I wasn't entirely sure whether or not it would be, given Hallmark occasionally has moments when you're wondering who in their right mind approved a script like that, but I can't say much about this one.

 

In fact, I was VERY pleasantly surprised!

 

The Royal Nanny took a fairly traditional story and stood it on its head. And I loved it!

 

Saturday Snippet: Happy Holidays!

 

xx

*image not mine

Tome Thursday: Talking Dirty with the Billionaire Boss

 

Hello everyone!

 

And welcome.

 

Welcome to the next few weeks of Christmas-only themed blog posts, as we make our way through the magical month of December.

 

Yes, I say magical, because it IS magical, for me at least.

 

It isn't about the gifts and about the rush and the full stores and everybody being anxious, but it IS about spending time together with your family and loved ones, decorating, baking delicious goodies, drinking those warm beverages that always make you happy, etc.

 

For me, it's a time when my family tends to go a little bit overboard with the decorating (Chevy Chase comes to mind ...), but it's also sort of a time to unwind a little.

 

I get to spend it with the people that are nearest and dearest to my heart, and to top it all off I usually get to laugh so much it makes everything else worth it.

 

So without further ado, let's start with - you guessed it - my favourite contemporary romance author, Serenity Woods. Talking Dirty with the Billionaire Boss kind of came as a surprise, but it is an AWESOME read just the same.