December 2021 Wrap-up

I hope that you all had a wonderful holiday season and wishing you a very happy new year!

Today I am sharing my final wrap-up for the year 2021. After a couple of months with very little progress, I am very pleased with the amount of reading I accomplished this month. I even surpassed my Goodreads Reading Challenge goal!

Total Books Read in December: 6
Total Books Read in 2021: 54/52

Reading My Favourite Authors

I started this TBR back in October and I am very pleased to say that I finally completed it this month. Although these books are from authors that I have loved in the past, unfortunately none of them earned 5 star ratings.

Favourite Authors Read: 3/3

The Lake House
By: Kate Morton
Genre: Dual Timeline, Historical Fiction, Mystery
Rating: 4/5

The Notebook
By: Nicholas Sparks
Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance
Rating: 2/5

Seasonal Reads

Two of the books I read in December were set near Christmas or were Christmas themed. The other book, features a winter sport.

He Sees You When You’re Sleeping
By: Mary Higgins Clark & Carol Higgins Clark
Genre: Mystery
Rating: 3/5

Ice Magic (Silver Blades 16)
By: Melissa Lowell
Genre: Middle Grade, Series
Rating: 3/5

The Holiday Swap
By: Maggie Knox
Genre: Romance, Contemporary Fiction, ARC
Rating: 3.5/5
NOTE: I was sent a copy of Maggie Knox’s The Holiday Swap, from the publisher via Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

Additional Book Completed

From Cradle to Stage
By: Virginia Hanlon Grohl
Genre: Non-fiction, Audio Book, Biography, Memoir, Music
Rating: 4/5

The Stats

Total Number of Books Read: 6
Total Number of Fiction: 5
Total Number of Non-Fiction: 1
Total Books Sent for Review: 1
Total Books Read from My Shelves: 5
Total Library Books Read: 0

Formats Read

Physical Books: 4
eBooks: 1
Audio Books: 1

Currently Reading

2021 Wrap-up: Goal Check-in

As I wrap up my posts for the year 2021, I decided to look back on my goals for the past twelve months and see how much progress I made.

At the end of 2020, I posted the following image of the books I was looking forward to reading during the upcoming year.

Here is how I did on this TBR

Number of TBR books read in 2021: 3/6

• A Royal Pain (Her Royal Spyness, 2) by Rhys Bowen
  Rating: 4/5
• Trouble and Strife by Johanne Levesque
  Rating: 2/5
• The First Phone Call from Heaven by Mitch Albom
  Rating: 4/5

While I am still looking forward to reading Things You Save in the Fire by Katherine Center and A Winter’s Tale by Cassie Brown, I think that I have lost interest in reading Waiting for Summer’s Return by Kim Vogel Sawyer.

October 2021 Book Haul

Today I would like to share the physical books I added to my collection during the month of October.

The first three books I got a great deal on, at Value Village.

My Story: Voyage on the Great Titanic: The Diary of Margaret Anne Brady, 1912
By: Ellen Emerson White

Dear Canada: Orphan at My Door: The Home Child Diary of Victoria Cope
By: Jean Little

Beartown
By: Fredrik Backman

And finally when visiting my local Newfie store, I found a rare book that has been on my TBR for quite a while.

Death at the Harbourview Cafe
By: Fred Humber

Monthly Wrap-up: October 2021

Total Books Read in October: 2
Total Books Read in 2021: 46

Reading My Favourite Authors

During the month of October, I chose three books from my favorite authors to read. Unfortunately October was a very hectic month for me and I completely dropped the ball on my reading. Out of the three books I picked out, I only got to one of them and I wasn’t able to finish it before the end of the month, so I will be continuing on this TBR for the month of November.

Favourite Authors Read: 0 /3

Additional Books Read:

While I wasn’t able to complete my actual TBR for the month, I did manage to finish two books during the month.

A Royal Pain
(Her Royal Spyness Mystery 2)
By: Rhys Bowen
Genre: Historical Fiction, Series, Mystery
Rating: 4/5

The Secrets of Latimer House
By: Jules Wake
Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: 3.5/5
NOTE: I was sent a copy of Jules Wake’s The Secrets of Latimer House, from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Stats

Total Number of Books Read: 2
Total Number of Fiction: 2
Total Number of Non-Fiction: 0
Total Books Sent for Review: 1
Total Books Read from My Shelves: 1
Total Library Books Read: 0

Formats Read

Physical Books: .5
eBooks: 1
Audio Books: .5

Currently Reading

October TBR: Reading My Favourite Authors

Over the summer I made it a point to focus on all of the back-list books I had either been sent for review or had won via giveaways. Afterwards I decided that I would reward myself by spending a month reading books I own by my favourite authors.

Three of those authors include; Nicholas Sparks, Kate Morton and Mitch Albom. Here are the books I will be focusing on during the month of October.

The Notebook
By: Nicholas Sparks

The Lake House
By Kate Morton

The First Phone Call From Heaven
By: Mitch Albom

End of Summer Book Haul

Capping off the summer season with one last book haul. Here is what I added to my collection.

From Audible:

From Cradle to Stage by Virginia Hanlon Ghrol
The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon
Meet Me at the Cupcake Cafe by Jenny Colgan

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for sending me the following ARCS.

The Secrets of Latimer House by Jules Wake
The Holiday Swap by Maggie Knox

TBR: Series September

I intended to have this posted nearer to the beginning of the month, but technical difficulties put a wrench in that plan. So better late than never. Here are the books that I have been reading and will continue to concentrate on during the month of September.

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I am also working my way through The Bookshop on the Shore (Scottish Bookshop 2) by Jenny Colgan.

My First Little Free Library Hunt

The following post is shared from my Instagram page: @melissaleesredhousereviews .

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July 2021 Book Haul

I added more physical books to my collection during the month of July than I normally do. The first picture includes books I found at a library book sale and the second picture are books my parents brought back from Newfoundland.

Library Book Sale

The Letters (Inn at Eagle Hill 1) by: Suzanne Woods Fisher

Royal Wedding (Princess Diaries, 11) by Meg Cabot

Mrs. Queen Takes the Train by William Kuhn

Books Set in Newfoundland

Stormy Cove by Bernadette Calonego

Murder at Blackhead by M.K. Staple

New Girl in Little Cove by Damhnait Monaghan

TBR: Backlist Catch-up

Note: I have been trying to use my Instagram more for book posts, so the following is one I shared a couple of weeks ago. If you aren’t following me on Instagram, you can find me at this link: Melissa Lee Spurrell (@melissaleesredhousereviews) • Instagram photos and videos

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Additional Note: I can never tell if I’m correctly inserting IG photos onto my blog posts. If you are seeing this, could you comment below if you are able to see the image. Thank you! Happy reading.