December in Review

Two Can Keep a Secret, The Hazel Wood, The Spies that Bind, Throw Like a Girl, and Let It Snow

Two Can Keep a Secret by Karen M. McManus — 5 stars
The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert — 4 stars
The Spies That Bind by Ally Carter — 5 stars
Throw Like a Girl by Sarah Henning — 5 stars
Let It Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle — 3.5 stars

You won’t want to put Two Can Keep a Secret down once you start it. Karen M. McManus’s fast-paced writing style and dual POVs will leave you flipping the pages as you eagerly try to solve the mystery along with the main characters. This entertaining mystery leaves just the right amount of clues so that when the murderer is finally revealed, everything will click right into place.

Fairytale fans will love the dark twists of The Hazel Wood. A mesmerizing tale, you’ll want to keep the lights on at night after reading the creepy stories Alice encounters as she journeys into the Hinterland. You’ll be pulled into the story by the mysterious contemporary beginning until you’re all the way trapped in the eerie fantasy world. Now is the perfect time to dive into this haunting novel as Alice’s story continues in the sequel, The Night Country, which released at the beginning of January.

The Spies That Bind is the perfect prequel to the Gallagher Girls series. I loved heading back to Gallagher Academy and hearing how Cammie, Bex, and Liz met for the first time and how they figured out their place at the school. Ally Carter did a great job of capturing Cammie’s young seventh grade voice in a way that still felt like the Gallagher Girl we all know and love. Pros and cons lists were included and everything! Plus, we finally got to hear Gilly Gallagher’s infamous story of saving President Lincoln. Fans of the series will love this prequel story and will definitely want to reread the entire series after listening to it!

I am such a huge fan of sports romances, and Throw Like a Girl did not disappoint! It’s full of family, friendship, figuring out Plan B, and of course football. Football fans will love reading about the plays, practices, and games. I don’t watch football, but I had no trouble following along. There’s also a little bit of softball, volleyball, and soccer! And let’s not forget the romance part. Liv and Grey work so well together that it was easy to root for them as a couple. I hope Sarah Henning has plans to write more sports romances because I am totally here for it. Fans of Miranda Kenneally’s Catching Jordan will love this story! Read my full 5-star review.

I reread Let It Snow (via audiobook) in preparation of watching the Netflix film adaptation. What I loved most about this anthology is how connected each of the stories are and how the characters overlap. Each story was quirky in its own way, which made it a fun read. My favorite of the three stories was Maureen Johnson’s The Jubilee Express and my least favorite was John Green’s A Cheertastic Christmas Miracle.

Have you read any of these books yet? What books did you read in December?

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