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STAY WITH ME BY AYOBAMI ADEBAYO // 5 stars
I finished this on the first of November, just in time for Joce's liveshow! What a heart-breaking (but also incredible) book. Stay With Me follows the life of a married Nigerian couple who are unable to bear children, and the story tackles the pressure of responsibility to family + the burden of infertility. I was so nervous to read this, as I never dip my toes in literary fiction, but this one exceeded all my expectations. The language was easy to understand + there was a really good balance between the character and plot development. Adebayo is such a powerful storyteller—I will definitely be picking up whatever she writes next!

BETTER THAN BEFORE BY GRETCHEN RUBIN // 4 stars
This was an interesting study on habits and how we can best tackle them depending on our tendencies. (These tendencies are broken down into four categories based on meeting and/or resisting our inner and outer expectations.) One thing to note should you choose to read Better than Before: this book is not a game plan. Rubin suggests different strategies to build good habits, mostly ones that work for her and her family/blog readers, but everyone is different. You know yourself, so you pick the strategies that work best for you!

SHUFFLE, REPEAT BY JEN KLEIN // 4.5 stars
I loved this one! I was looking for a cute contemporary to read, since Stay With Me was such a heavy read, and remembered Alexa talking about Shuffle, Repeat everywhere. I was initially hesitant to like this because June (the narrator) was a huge downer, but I loved seeing the differences between her and Oliver play out.

Happy December, friends! Here are my reading plans (heavy emphasis on plans) for this month! I have 2.5 weeks to get all my reading done before I leave for Japan + Hong Kong. Fingers crossed for 100% success, at least with these four books I've chosen to tackle this month 🤞


What Lies Between Us by Nayomi Munaweera
This is the December pick for Joce's book club! Like Stay With Me, I hadn't heard of What Lies Between Us before it was announced as a future read, so I'll just share an incomplete sentence from the synopsis that caught my attention: "... the confession of a woman, driven by the demons of her past to commit a single and possibly unforgivable crime."

Winterspell by Claire Legrand
I've been meaning to read Winterspell since 2014 when Rachel (from Paper Cuts) and I planned to do a buddy read, but it never happened 😅 There are mixed reviews from my friends on Goodreads, so I'm walking into this one with low expectations but high hopes! It seems to be a dark take on The Nutcracker.

Nutcracked by Susan Adrian
THIS COVER 😍 It already looks like the perfect read for this holiday season! Nutcracked follows a girl named Georgie who dances the part of Clara in The Nutcracker—but every time she dances with the Nutcracker doll, she enters a magical world. When this magic enters the real world, Georgie must save everyone in danger.

Let it Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle
Let it Snow is another book I've been meaning to pick up for ages, four Decembers ago to be somewhat exact. I know I will fly through these three stories, so let's MAKE IT HAPPEN, SELF.



Foolish Hearts by Emma Mills // December 5th
Mills is an auto-read author for me (First & Then, Mills' debut novel, is one of my favorites!) but I didn't add this to my TBR because I have no idea when my library hold will be ready. I wouldn't be mad if this was my first read of 2018 though!

Three Sides of a Heart: Stories About Love Triangles edited by Natalie C. Parker // December 19th
I guess I really want my heart to break over and over again because why else would someone read a book about love triangles?

Love, Life, and the List by Kasie West // December 26th
I am reading all of West's books in publication order so I won't be getting to Love, Life, and the List for a while, but I've loved On the Fence and The Fill-In Boyfriend so far! West is really good at combining the right amount of conflict with fluff. I love fluff! As you can probably tell :)