Where the White Things Are: December Books

Another year of reading is in the books. Pun intended! I thought I'd add my other yearly stats to my December books post. In 2021:

I read 188 books: 27 non-fiction/166 fiction (24 audiobooks, 31 re-reads)
I ran 1350 miles
I biked 568 miles
I wrote 150,000 words on this blog (probably closer to 145k of my own words, subtracting all of those delicious book quotes that I shared each month)

Compared to last year, that's 15 more books read, 18 more miles run, 237 more miles biked, and 5-10k more blog words written. Honestly, after the shutdowns of 2020, I did not think I'd do more of my three R's in 2021. I don't aspire to do more of my favorite activities each year (balance is key), but I do like seeing the stats of how much I have done those activities. I love to read, run and write! (My biking kind of died out during cross country season, but hopefully I'll get back in the saddle in springtime.)

In December, I took advantage of a sale and subscribed to Kindle Unlimited again, which always weights my reading list in favor of the indie fluff books (aka clean romances). I read several holiday romances with Hallmark-levels of cheesiness. These types of books are quick easy reads that inflate my book list to much higher numbers than it would be if I were only reading thicker, more complex literature. But a book is still a book, and I enjoyed my sugary Christmas reading.

I read 18 books in December, only one of which was non-fiction.

Fiction:

No Room in the Inn by Gracie Ruth Mitchell: girl inherits B&B from her grandmother and discovers that a guy who works as Santa has been living there. Not a super great story, kind of inconsistent with random details like the girl is poor and unemployed but still rents a car for a month and buys clothes? And other smaller bits like a person was standing and a page later that person is pushing out his chair and standing up. I also don't love stories with estranged parents because I don't relate to the trite reasons given. Overall, this book was fine but all three of the author's other books are way better! I wouldn't reread this one.
The Paid Bridesmaid by Sariah Wilson
*Love Unexpected by Jenny Proctor: re-read this one in preparation for the new release of the 3rd book in this cute rom-com series.
Love Off-Limits by Jenny Proctor: While searching for artistic work, guy gets a job as a farm hand at the agro-tourism farm that the girl helps manage. They both try to figure out how to chase their dreams and be together. Wow, don't hire me as a book blurb writer! This was a fun little escape of a story. I loved the imagery of the South Carolina mountains, which I have never seen before. The characters were lovable and the story was sweet, if a tad melodramatic at times. A good third book in this series.
An Unexpected Boyfriend for Christmas by Jannette Rallison: girl brings fake boyfriend to a family Christmas gathering to help her sick grandma die happy. Of course the fake love turns real. The title is lame, but Chapter 11 of this book was THE FUNNIEST thing I've read all year. I had tears of mirth streaming down my face and was laughing so hard I could only read a few words at a time. Proctologist humor. Apparently butt humor is timeless. Either that or I'm a perpetual 13 year old. Such a fun read, but with some real character flaws and growth and poignancy at the end, so not all total cotton candy. Janette Rallison is a good writer.
Christmas Spark by Cindy Steel: high school enemies, the girl and guy get stranded in a mountain cabin for a week. Sparks fly. The story was sweet and predictable, and generally the writing was good, but I had one problem with it: the verb tenses were all over the place! Past and present tense all mixed together in the narrative and gave it an unfinished rough-cut feel.
A Cross-Country Christmas by Courtney Walsh: girl catches a ride home for Christmas with her brother's best friend, who she hates because he rejected her years ago. I didn't like the prolonged antagonism in this book, but once they got nicer to each other (like halfway through the book or more, it was a very sweet story with heartwarming plot twists.
A Match Made at Christmas by Courtney Walsh: sweet small town story of best friends confessing love for each other. Guy's aunt asks him to help reunite/matchmake a pair of estranged elderly friends, and he enlists the help of his best friend, a girl who's secretly in love with him. They see parallels between their friendship and the couple they're trying to reunite, and it gives them courage to take the plunge from friendship to romance. I liked this one much better than Courtney Walsh's other Christmas book, mostly because friends to lovers is happier than the enemies to lovers trope. One odd part was the characters invoking/consulting/trusting "magic" to help them know what to do. It seemed out of place to me.
His Stand-In Holiday Girlfriend by Kasey Stockton: Hallmark style Christmas romance. Sweet at times, bland at times, mediocre writing.
Snowed in on Main Street by Kasey Stockton: see above review, haha.
Melodies and Mistletoe by Kasey Stockton: nanny slash singer living in NYC hoping for a record deal falls in love with a guy who does an online critique of her Christmas song YouTube video. This was my favorite of the three in this trio by Kasey Stockton. A little more sweet than bland, but still mid-grade quality overall.
The Betrothed by Kiera Cass: lady being courted by a king falls in love with a foreigner and runs away, then everything falls apart and she has to help with an international incident and I can't remember where in the storyline the first book ends and the second book picks up. This duology did not need to be separated into two books. It would be a pretty long single book, but the first book ended in such a sad weird place I almost didn't want to read book 2! Book 1 was such a long setup for the finale in book 2 that as a reader I had a hard time figuring out what the actual plot was. But overall, combining both books, I ended up liking the story.
The Betrayed by Kiera Cass (book 2)
Snowed in at the Winter Palace by Lucy McConnell: architect hired to redesign the royal kitchen falls in love with the prince while snowed in. Enough personality and character development to make me like the characters, not terrible but not great writing.
Snowed in at the Castle by Lucy McConnell: American girl doesn't realized that the guy she falls in love with while snowed in is a prince. Sweet, but kind of inconsistent writing with almost enough actual typos and mistakes to be annoying. Oh, the joys of Kindle Unlimited indie authors.
Friend(shipped) by Savannah Scott: so sweet. Childhood friends who live in two sides of a duplex and work at the same newspaper try to get up their courage to confess their lifelong love for each other. A cozy small town read. As always, best friends falling in love is my fave romance trope, and this was a very sweet take on that story. A few more typos than average, but not enough to kill the story.
Kiss the Girl by Melanie Jacobson: newly released book 2 in the Creekville rom-com series. Funny and sweet--better than the first book in the series because I liked the characters a lot. High school teacher resists coworker's attempts at matchmaking but then fake dates the girl to boost his chances at proving his stability to the principal so he can get a coaching job. Another not great summary of a fun story with well developed characters who journey and learn and try. The official summary says it's about "two friends who get caught in their own fake dating trap." --way better than my attempted tagline, haha.

Non-fiction:

The Yoga Engineer's Manual by Richelle Ricard: a fire hydrant of information! This was a 320 page textbook of anatomy and kinesiology, and how it all fits together with proper form in yoga poses. Fascinating, brain bending, and informative. I learned so many useful actions to improve my form! Since I've only ever done YouTube yoga videos on my own, I decided to explore and learn more about yoga to make sure I'm getting the maximum benefit from each session (and avoid injuries). I might need to buy this one for future reference. It was a beast to read but I made it through after without maxing out my library renewals--barely. I was thankful for my college Anatomy and Physiology class when I was wading through all of the technical parts of this book, because the terminology was not unfamiliar. No quotes to share from this very informational intellectual book, but trust me, it's a stellar reference.

Ghost book alert! It's not officially on my "books read" list because I didn't read it word for word/cover to cover. I still thoroughly browsed it, read large sections of it through, and renewed it twice from the library: Meb For Mortals by Meb Keflezighi. I loved Meb's matter-of-fact tone and no-nonsense attitude to running and staying able to run after the so-called prime of life. Meb is one of the elite marathon greats of our country and he is such an accessible great guy. I gave this book to my dad for his birthday.

Quotes from fiction:

"That’s how my conversations with Sarah usually end: with me smiling. That’s why we’re best friends." --Gracie Ruth Mitchell, No Room in the Inn

"Her eyebrows hadn’t quite returned to resting position." --Janette Rallison, An Unexpected Boyfriend for Christmas. *Too many authors use the same tired phrases to describe raised eyebrows, and I appreciated this outside the box eyebrow description.

"In a world where everything was fast and people were always chasing after something, the garden was a breath of quiet." --Kiera Cass, The Betrothed

"Mother always said that when you absolutely must make a decision, do it in sunlight." --Kiera Cass, The Betrothed

"We are creatures who create. When you take creation out of the process, you strip away the divine.” --Lucy McConnell, Snowed in at the Winter Palace. *This was an unexpected pearl hidden in a chick flick of a Christmas romance--I swear I've heard something similar before. In this scene the character is talking about cooking vs. eating premade food, and I as a person to whom cooking too often feels like an endless drudgery, I appreciated this perspective.

“If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that you have to seize the opportunities for good times when they come, even if it means cleaning up a mess.” --Lucy McConnell, Snowed in at the Castle.

"My sister is the type of person I would normally avoid if we weren’t related. She’s always so on point, and I’m so—not. The thing is, she’s also really sweet. Perfectionistic, overachieving, and in everyone’s business, but she’s got a big heart. And I love her. In small doses." --Savannah Scott, Friendshipped. *This quote came shockingly close to perfectly describing my relationship with my own older sister, haha--love you, Em! Not that she reads this blog, but still. Love her!

"There’s something about the beginning of school that feels more like the new year than actual New Year’s.” --Melanie Jacobson, Kiss the Girl. *An apropos endcap to my favorite quotes from my December reads.