
December ’19 wrap up and January TBR
Good morning bookworms! It’s time for the final monthly wrap-up for 2019, the December wrap-up!
During December I read an excessive amount of books. For me. A grand total of 18 books, which is definitely my highest monthly total for the year!! This mostly had to do with Sam @ Fictionally Sam’s Mrs Claus’ Readathon, but also probably to do with the sheer number of romance novels I devoured (why can’t I read fantasy this quickly?!*).
Book |
Author |
Series |
Format |
Rating (/5) |
Cover |
Masterson | Lisa Lang Blakeney | The Fixer #1 | eBook |
3 |
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Masterson Unleashed | Lisa Lang Blakeney | The Fixer #2 | eBook |
3 |
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Masterson in Love | Lisa Lang Blakeney | The Fixer #3 | eBook |
3 |
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The Gentleman’s Guide to Getting Lucky | Mackenzi Lee | Montague Siblings #1.5 | Hardcover |
3.5 |
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Someday, Someday | Emma Scott | eBook |
4.5 |
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|
Call Her Mine | Melissa Foster | Harmony Pointe #1 | eBook |
4.5 |
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The (Alien) Nanny For Christmas | Amanda Milo | eBook |
2.5 |
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|
Falcon | Michelle Heard | Trinity Academy #1 | eBook |
4 |
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Mason | Michelle Heard | Trinity Academy #2 | eBook |
4 |
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Lake | Michelle Heard | Trinity Academy #3 | eBook |
4 |
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Million Dollar Devil | Katy Evans | Million Dollar #1 | eBook |
2.5 |
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Pucked | Helena Hunting | Pucked #1 | eBook |
4 |
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The Wall of Winnipeg and Me | Mariana Zapata | eBook |
4.5 |
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|
Pretty Reckless | L. J. Shen | All Saints High #1 | eBook |
3 |
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In the Unlikely Event | L. J. Shen | eBook |
3 |
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|
The Girl Who Steals Christmas | C. G. Drews | The Boy Who Steals Houses #0.5 | eBook |
5 |
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A Heart So Fierce and Broken | Brigid Kemmerer | Cursebreakers #2 | Paperback |
5 |
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Pumpkinheads | Rainbow Rowell | Graphic Novel |
4 |
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I have to say, my favourite book last month was A Heart So Fierce and Broken by Brigid Kemmerer. It’s not a total surprise, and I am halfway through my review for it already, which is coming in the next couple of days. So if you enjoyed A Curse So Dark and Lonely last year, or you’re yet to read it, please add this book/series to your TBR, you will not regret it!!
However, HUGE CONGRATS to C. G. Drews who managed to make me bawl my eyes out while at the car wash, with her smol prequel story of Moxie and the De Lainey family. I haven’t had emotions like that in public for a long time. I had to stop reading and wait for my car with tears streaming down my face…
* I am fully aware of why I can’t read fantasy this quickly, and it’s because I like to have a good grasp on the world-building, which is often more done than romance!!
This is the year, friends. The year that I AM going to get through 75 books on my backlist (and also try not to increase the number of books on it simultaneously…)! I am only putting 5 books each month on a dedicated TBR, so I can still mood read and shop around a bit!!
The Of Wonderland Book Club theme for January is Owned Books II, so this works out very well for me!!
I’ve also been adding some new/different emojis for you all!! So, my TBR for January is as follows.
? physical book | ? ebook | ? audiobook
? comic / graphic novel | ?♀️ buddy read | ✳️ reread
⚔️ fantasy | ⛱ contemporary | ☄️ sci-fi | ? historical fiction
❤️ romance | ? crime / mystery | ? horror / thriller
? Beat the Backlist | ⏰ ARC / review copy | ? Of Wonderland
- Red Glove – Holly Black ? ?♀️ ⚔️ ? ?
- The Night Country – Melissa Albert ? ⚔️ ⏰ ?
- A Darker Shade of Magic – V. E. Schwab ? ⚔️ ? ?
- The Ten Thousand Doors of January – Alix E. Harrow ? ⚔️ ? ?
- Private Princess – James Patterson ? ? ? ?
I didn’t really post anything that earth shattering during December…
I did participate in BookEnding Winter though (not as a host) which was a lot of fun, as per usual. My three posts were:
I caught up on blog-hopping during December (thank goodness), but I think I accidentally deleted my list of fave posts… (awks…) So, these are some of my faves that I saw:
- Isabelle @ Bookwyrm Bites wrote a discussion post on whether literary tropes and predictability are bad things (and I don’t think they are)
- Veronika @ Wordy and Whimsical wrote a great post that feature great books with not-so-great covers
- Marie @ Drizzle and Hurricane talked about the stress of NEEDING TO READ ALL OF THE BOOKS. Which, let’s be honest, is freaking intense!
Also, another version of the Spicy Pumpkin Latte tag floating around that I wanted to share them with you!
It seriously brings me no end of joy that this smol child of mine is still out there. If you have also done this and I haven’t given you a shout out, then please let me know!
*NOTE* I’m not trying to be preachy or anything here, but if you don’t want to know about the Aussie bushfires, or this may trigger something for you, please feel free to skip this section.
Well, the biggest thing for Australia at the moment is the horrendous bushfires. In case you can’t tell (?) these are taking up a lot of my brain power as I worry for friends and family, but also the damage that this is doing to our country and the wildlife. Here’s some stats:
- Fires this season started on 11 November 2019 and are still burning.
- We have lost almost 6 million hectares of land to fires.
- Koalas, other wildlife and vegetation will not only be considered endangered, but technically ‘extinct’ by the time the fires are out.
- As at Christmas day, 14 people had been killed, including 2 volunteer firefighters.
- There have been over 2,500 buildings destroyed, including homes, businesses and historic sites.
- The smoke covering a lot of our cities and towns is up to 11 times worse than what is considered hazardous for humans to breathe.
Now here’s some comparisons for you, that may put into perspective why some of us are screaming so much:
- 6 million hectares is a lot. When the Amazon rainforest went up earlier this year (due to farmers wanting more land to farm on) the Amazon lost 0.9 million hectares. I’m not saying this is nothing, because it really isn’t, but people pledged millions of dollars internationally to support saving vegetation and animals when this occurred.
- 6 million hectares is bigger than a lot of countries. The closest I could find in comparable size is Croatia, which is 5.6 million hectares. We have lost more land to fires in less than two months than the size of some of YOUR countries:
- Slovakia (4.9m ha)
- Estonia (4.5m ha)
- Denmark (4.3m ha)
- The Netherlands (4.2m ha)
- Switzerland (4.1m ha)
- Belgium (3m ha)
- For our US friends, it’s the equivalent of losing almost all of West Virginia (6.2m ha). And we would have lost the following states twice:
- Hawaii (2.8m ha)
- Massachusetts (2.7m ha)
- Vermont (2.5m ha)
- New Hampshire (2.4m ha)
- New Jersey (2.3m ha).
Yes, Australia is huge. We’re the 6th largest country in the world in terms of land mass. And 5 million hectares isn’t even 1% of our land. However, like most of the world’s largest countries, like Russia, Canada and China, a large proportion of Australia is actually unliveable. The parts that are on fire, are the parts where we live.
The part that probably upsets us most is that a lot of people are just kind of shrugging, saying this is “typical Aussie bushfires”. Despite fires being “normal” as part of an Aussie summer, these fires are NOT normal. The last time there were fires this bad was in 1974, and only 3.4 million hectares of land was lost, primarily not where people were living.
On top of all this, Australia has been in drought since 2017. Our scientists are on record saying this is the worst drought in the recorded history of Australia. The parts most heavily affected are south Queensland, New South Wales/ACT, Victoria, Tasmania, and eastern South Australia. Coincidentally (?), these are all of the places currently on fire.
So, that’s basically the situation right now. I’m fortunate, the closest fire to me so far has been about 20km (12.4 miles). My mum’s farm has had some closer calls, but we’re all doing ok at the moment. THANK YOU to everyone who has checked in, sent prayers and wishes. Keep your fingers crossed that we get some rain soon, and some relief for the firefighters who have been working their butts off for the last two months.
How was your December?


15 Comments
Isabelle @ Nine Tale Vixen
congrats on reaching your highest monthly read total! I also read The Girl Who Steals Christmas since one of my secret santas gifted me The Boy Who Steals Houses, and dang I did not sign up to be attacked by feels ? oh, and thanks for linking my discussion post ?
the bushfires sound alarming – I wish I found it harder to believe that people are being so dismissive, but either way it’s awful. but I’m glad you and your family are all okay, and I hope you continue to stay safe. I will definitely keep my fingers crossed for rain for you!
Meeghan reads
Ahhhh… totally should have read this comment first!! I’m so glad you liked the prequel too!!
Thanks for the rain wishes. Saturday already has weather warnings, and it’s my brother’s wedding, so we will try very hard to stay safe!!
evelynreads1
I hope you have a great reading month! I’m also planning on reading The ten thousand doors of January!
I really hope the fires will reduce soon!!!
(www.evelynreads.com)
Meeghan reads
Thanks Evelyn!! I hope you enjoy Alix’s book!! ?
Kathryn Speckels
Ooh, I loved The Ten Thousand Doors of January! Hope you do as well 🙂
Meeghan reads
Thanks Kathryn!! By all accounts, I’m sure I will love it. Too many people are telling me that it’s a wonderful story!!
Happy reading to you!! ??
Veronika @ Wordy and Whimsical
I hope you’ll enjoy Red Glove – it’s my favorite from the series, even though I guessed the mystery pretty easily. The plot was still captivating and I loved reading about the characters. Thank you for highlighting my post, I’m happy you enjoyed it. 🙂
The fires in Australia are horrifying, I can’t believe – well, to be honest, I can – that people aren’t paying more attention to it. And the fact that some bring up Australia’s size and try to make the fires sound unimportant… people can be awful. I’m keeping you in my thoughts, Meeghan. ?
Meeghan reads
Thanks Veronika ?
Ahh, a fellow Curse Workers reader!! Cassel’s family are so awful, right?! I kind of just want to reach in and save him from them all…!
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Marie
I’ve been so anxious and stressed out about the fires even though I live so so far away in another side of the world. I’m so sorry this is happening and I wish I could help, I hope you and your entire family are able to stay safe and that you will get some rain and relief from it all soon, I’m keeping my fingers crossed. sending you lots of love <3 <3
You've read SO much in December, this is incredible! I hope that January will be a good reading month for you, and thank you so, so much for sharing my post! <3 <3 <3
Meeghan reads
Oh Marie, I’m so sorry!! I didn’t mean to stress you!! It’s hard to tell what news is getting out to an international audience, especially when even here there are people saying this is ‘normal’. My family are all safe at the moment, but thank you for keeping us in your thoughts.
I hope you have an amazing reading month xx
Marie
Oh no don’t worry about it at all, I just wish I could do more for you. I’m thinking of you and hoping for the best!! <3
Charlotte
Firstly thank you so much for mentioning me doing your tag ❤️ and secondly I hope you’re still doing well considering the situation in Australia, it’s awful and I honestly don’t understand why countries arent giving aid like they have done when other natural disasters took place /: what’s happening is awful and I really hope you’re okay. I’ve heard facts about it that are absolutely heartbreaking. I hope the fires stop soon and that the rest of the year goes well with you.
Meeghan reads
Thanks Charlotte!! There’s some amazing fundraising efforts happening at the moment, including #AuthorsForFireys on twitter where a whole cast of amazing authors are donating books and character naming and all sorts of things to raise money for our firefighters.
I hope you’re having an amazing 2020 too ?
Charlotte
That’s wonderful to hear. I’ll have it look it up (: I really hope things get better soon. It’s so heartbreaking everytime I see the news.
Thank you ?