What’s On My Plate – December 2013

It’s December, folks! Can you believe it? I swear time moves faster the older you get…Only one more month to squeeze in books for 2013. One more month to finish reading challenges. One more month to work on goals set for the year. And in the middle of all the book stuff, there’s all the holiday excitement and stress to get through! My plan is to enjoy all of it, even if I don’t get to all the books I wanted to (I won’t!) or complete all my reading challenges (nope!). The best thing about the end of the year is that the new year is on its way, and everyone gets a chance to start fresh. I also have to mention that I love December here on WordPress, because I get to have snow on my blog:) I also love December because—advent calendars!

This year I bought each of my kids a chocolate advent calendar from Whole Foods, as well as a *splurge* Playmobil advent calendar! Each day has a different Playmobil figure, and lots of them are really cute animals, like a raccoon and the squirrels we opened today:)

So, as far as bookish things go, here’s what’s on my plate this month:

For Review from NetGalley:

Roomies by Sara Zarr & Tara Altebrando. This is far from my usual go-to books, but I’ve heard good things about it, plus I believe this was a “download now” book on NetGalley, which is why I picked it up.

ARCs from publishers:

Edge of Darkness by J.T. Geissinger. I’m reading this right now, and OMG, J.T. never disappoints me! If you haven’t read her Night Prowler series, you are really missing out. That is if you enjoy paranormal romance. And when I say “romance” I mean hot, sexy, smoldering looks that eventually lead to hot sex!  I’m devouring this, and I’ll most likely finish it today:) (And then my friend Amy can read it!)

The Almost Girl by Amalie Howard. This is a debut from Strange Chemistry, and I’m participating in Amalie’s blog tour in January.

The Descent by Alma Katsu. Seriously, this is an awesome month for me! Alma, Alma, where do I start? This is the third book in her The Taker Trilogy, and I couldn’t be happier to have received an ARC from Alma to read and review. I’ve been a big fan of hers from the beginning, and I’m dying to see how things end up for Adair and Co.

The Rabbit Back Literature Society by Pasi Ilmari Jääskeläinen. Yes, his name is a mouthful. But I love this publisher (Pushkin Press) and one reviewer is even comparing this to Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, one of my all-time favorite books!

The Book of Apex: Volume 4 of Apex Magazine by various authors. Apex is another favorite small publisher of mine, just in case you haven’t been reading this blog. I’m looking forward to this collection of short stories from Apex Magazine.

For Book Club:

The Hive by Gill Hornby. This sounds like a quick, fun read. It’s about a group of moms and their adventures in elementary school. I’m sure it will bring back many fond (or not so fond!) memories of my own experiences volunteering for the PTA.

Giveaway Hops & More:

Books, Bones & Buffy Book Review Giveaway! This month I’m unveiling a new monthly giveaway that I’m holding here on the blog. I’ve been thinking about this for a while, and what better month to start than December! Because my greatest love is sharing the books I love with you guys, I’ll be giving one winner each month a choice of a book that I reviewed the previous month. So this month, one international winner will get to pick a book from my November reviews. Normally I’ll start this on the first of the month, but I’m a little behind, so look for this giveaway to start either tomorrow or Tuesday. For a taste of what you can win, check out my November reviews below!

December New Release Giveaway Hop, hosted by Book Twirps. I love this hop, and I’ve noticed lots of my readers love it too! If you are a blogger and want to join, you can still sign up at Book Twirps.

Best of 2013 Giveaway Hop hosted by I Am a Reader, Not a Writer. Look for this hop starting December 11th. You can still sign up for this hop as well…

Otherwise, I seem to have a lighter-than-normal reading schedule, so if I have time, I may go back and read some review books that I haven’t had time for, or *gasp* even read a book JUST FOR MYSELF that I want to get to!

Did you miss any of my November reviews? Click on the titles to read them now. Winners this month? Plastic Jesus and The Archived  are my winners with five stars each.

Plastic Jesus by Wayne Simmons
The Archived by Victoria Schwab
The Deaths of Tao by Wesley Chu
The Scroll of Years by Chris Willrich
Cracked by Eliza Crewe
Scion of the Sun by Nicola Marsh
The Curse Keepers by Denise Grover Swank

I hope you’ll join me this month for all the fun!