Ceri Louise Reads

I cannot believe it’s December already! This year has flown by for sure.

This year I’m hosting the Christmas Readathon again with Eva from Read While It Rains. We’ve decided to extend it for the whole of December to give more time for festive reading, and this year there are six prompts themed around the poem commonly known as The Night Before Christmas.

This is a laid back Readathon so all the prompts are optional and you can double up as much as you like! I have picked four books to cover the book-based prompts and I’m excited to get to them all!

So here are the books I’ve picked to read in December:

Crescent by Diana Abu-Jaber: this book has been on my tbr for ages. I first heard about it on the Strong Sense of Place podcast episode about books set in restaurants. I don’t remember much of what they said about it, other than food acts like a character in the story and it is enchanting. This is my pick for a book about food.

Christmas Carols and a Cornish Cream Tea by Cressida McLaughlin: this is book 5 in the Cornish Cream Tea series, which is one of my current favourite cosy romance series. Each book centres around a new pairing, but previous couples feature so while you can read them as standalone novels, you get more of the ongoing feels by reading them in order. This is my festive read, but as the Cornish Cream Tea Bus is a part of all of the books, it’s going to feature food too.

A Prayer for the Crown Shy by Becky Chambers: the second of her Monk and Robot novellas, this is my short and fast read, and I think it also features a journey, as the first book in the series did.

Brigands and Breadknives by Travis Baldree: this is the third book set in the world of Legends and Lattes, and while I loved the first two, I’ve heard mixed things about this one. So I’m hopeful that I will enjoy it, but will try not to be too disappointed if it’s not as good as this others. This is my book that features a journey.

As well as the Christmas Readathon, I have been trying to complete the Goodreads quarterly challenges (about the only thing that I actually rate on Goodreads). I have five still to complete at the moment:

Hispanic heritage: I am currently reading My Name Is Emilia del Valle by Isabel Allende for this, and enjoying it so far!

Spine Tinglers: I’m planning to read The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia for this. I am not a fan of horror as a genre but I have enjoyed other books by this author, so this was a less intimidating option for me! It also works for the Hispanic Heritage and Goodreads Choice prompts.

Memorable Memoirs: I’m intending to read Educated by Tara Westover. I have this in paperback, but also as an audiobook from the library so I’ll probably read it in that format, now that I know I can cope with audiobooks!

Native Voices: I was so excited when I looked at this challenge as I picked up The Truth According to Ember by Danica Nava in the sale at The Works on my birthday. It sounds like a cute and fun romcom.

Goodreads Choice Awards: While The Bewitching works for this challenge, I have a few other books that I could read for this too. I’m hoping to pick up Wish You Were Her by Elle McNicoll. I love her middle grade book, A Kind of Spark, so I’m excited to read this YA romcom from her.

I’m currently on 90 books for the year, and I’m hoping to finish on a round 100, as this would be the perfect number for squares for my blanket (update coming soon!) I’m working right up to and including Christmas Day, but then I have a week of to squeeze in some end of year reading! Let’s see how I get on!

What are you planning to read in December? Will you be joining in the Readathon?