My December reading life ended 2020 on a good note for books. I read a total of 14 books last month. I shared 5 books, including a few holiday romances from my Christmas TBR list, in my December Quick Lit. Below are short reviews of the other 9 books.
I read a lot of romance this month, between two new series and a couple more Christmas stories. I also finally read a book on writing that I’ve been curious about for at least the past year. Here’s a glance into my reading life this December:
Pucks & Penalties: Pucked Series Deleted Scenes and Outtakes Version 2.0 by Helena Hunting
Helena Hunting’s Pucked series is my most recent romance obsession. I fell hard for this series in November, staying up way too late reading most of the books. Pucked Love was the final story and part of my December Quick Lit reviews.
I indulged in this collection of outtakes, deleted scenes, and extras. There were several short scenes from Alex and Violet’s stories and an extra covering a major life event. The humor was spot on with those two. I’m glad I got the chance to laugh at some of their deleted shenanigans. Of course, I loved the extra stories covering Randy and Lily’s relationship. It was fun to get a behind the scenes glance at Hunting’s writing and editing process.
Pucks & Penalties also included a crossover novella, Get Inked. I loved meeting tattoo artist Hayden and getting a peek at his relationship with Tenley. I will definitely check out her Clipped Wings series too! Now I have two more series from Helena Hunting to read!
Helena Hunting’s All In Series
There are three books so far in the All In series. Perhaps that’s all there will be. It’s a crossover series featuring some characters from Hunting’s Pucked series. I was happy to be back in her hockey universe and catch up with some familiar characters. As of this writing, the series is available on Kindle Unlimited.
A Lie For A Lie by Helena Hunting
A Lie For A Lie follows Rook Bowman, also known as Rookie in the Pucked series. It’s set a few years after the other series concludes.
Rook has mellowed over the years trying to tone down his wild reputation from his first year in the NHL. During the off season he heads to his family’s cabin in Alaska to enjoy some peace and quiet. On the plane he meets Lainey, the first woman in a long time who doesn’t recognize him from his public image. They have a whirlwind romance until he is called away for a family emergency, not realizing until it’s too late he has no way of contacting her. A year later, fate gives them a second chance. If they can get past their lies.
I really enjoyed this first book of the series. It was so fun to get to see how my beloved Pucked characters were doing a few years down the road. The Chicago team is still very close knit. This book contained one of my least favorite tropes but it was done well. I adored Lainey and Rook enough to go with it. The tone is slightly different than her Pucked series. The raunchy humor and sex are toned down a bit which may have made the main characters seem more mature.
A Favor For A Favor by Helena Hunting
A Favor For A Favor takes us to Seattle where a new NHL expansion team is starting. This book follows Rook’s sister, Stevie Bowman, who just moved to the city for a new job only to discover her boyfriend (who moved there a couple months ahead) has been cheating on her. Luckily her brother puts her up in the penthouse apartment that came with his new contract. Arriving late at night, she encounters her neighbor, Bishop, who acts like a complete jerk when he jumps to his own unflattering assumptions about why she’s staying in team housing.
Things go downhill as they get off on the wrong foot and torment each other. At the start of the season, Bishop ends up with an injury that has him out of the game for weeks and Stevie offers her professional skills to rehab him. It’s a favor for a favor. He can get back on the ice quicker and she can add a professional athlete to her client list without the help of her brother.
This book was definitely the funniest of the three. The games Stevie and Bishop played to get under each other’s skin were hilarious. Bishop was all around funny with his ridiculous underwear and not caring at all what others thought. It was adorable to read as they grew closer and Bishop revealed his sweet side to Stevie. He truly understood what she needed in a partner and wanted to be that guy for her. Plus they had insane chemistry. I also enjoyed the rivalry between him and Rook even more than Miller and Alex’s faceoffs in Pucked.
A Secret For A Secret by Helena Hunting
A Secret For A Secret follows Ryan “King” Kingston, goalie for Seattle’s NHL team and one of the most rule following hockey stars ever. Except for the night that he finds himself in a bar after discovering a huge family secret. That night he broke all of his own rules taking home a stranger, Queenie, who confided secrets of her own. She left the next morning without saying goodbye and he hasn’t been able to stop thinking about her. When the new season kicks off, he’s sitting at the first official meeting and in walks Queenie, the general manager’s assistant and daughter!
I half read and half listened to this book since an audio version was also included with Kindle Unlimited. It was nice to be able to continue the story while I was cooking and cleaning. This book was surprisingly the most romantic of the three. Queenie and King were adorable as they navigate their relationship. King knows what he wants right off the bat and is very loving and patient with Queenie as she struggles to overcome wounds from her past. He is also a boy scout everywhere but the bedroom, a wonderful quality in a hero.
Save the Cat! Writes A Novel by Jessica Brody
I’ve wanted to read this book about writing for the past year or so. Jessica Brody adapted Blake Snyder’s popular screenwriting book to apply the principles to novel writing. This book helps the writer break down the plot of their story into the 15 beats that all novels contain. It is described as a workshop style guide to plot and character transformation. It can be used for outlining a new novel, revising a work in progress, or for identifying what’s missing from a story.
My library hold finally came through for this book and I think it was a case of bad timing unfortunately. I found it so hard to focus on this right now. There are definitely some helpful principles for plotting advice. I appreciate that now I have notes on the different beats and understand them better. The section covering character development and transformation clearly defined new ways (to me at least) for brainstorming and working through that part of the writing process. I did feel like a lot of the information repeated over and over giving the same explanation but with a few different words. Brody’s definitions of the 10 different genres or types of story were also a little confusing to me. The tone is very encouraging to beginning novelists though.
K.A. Tucker’s Wild Series
The Simple Wild by K.A. Tucker
I wasn’t sure The Simple Wild would live up to the hype but after coming across the audiobook available on Libby, I decided to give it a shot. Oh my god, did it deliver!
Calla Fletcher is a city girl embracing her busy life in Toronto, having long ago given up having a relationship with her estranged father in Alaska. But when an unexpected phone call informs her of her father’s illness, she’s convinced to go visit the remote town her mother fled 24 years ago. Calla struggles to adjust to an opposite way of life, an aloof and awkward father, and their obnoxious neighbor, Jonah, who helps run her father’s charter plane company. Jonah makes it clear he doesn’t believe Calla has what it takes to handle their world and can’t wait for her to run back to the city. They constantly butt heads. As Calla learns to negotiate a relationship with her father, she discovers an unexpected bond forming with Jonah too.
I listened to this book on audio twice! Because it was so good, I didn’t want to let go of these characters. I was also trying to figure out why it spoke to me so much. From it’s high rating on goodreads it has obviously appealed to a lot of people. This is the kind of story that I hope to write one day. The emotional depth in every relationship was awesome. I loved the family dynamics, the setting, and the love story. If you have any non-romance readers in your life, I think this is a great book for introducing them to the romance genre. This book is so much more than the story of two people falling in love and the majority of the sex scenes are fade to black.
Alaska has a special place in my heart since I worked in Denali National Park one summer. My husband has also spent time on the Alaskan coast. I frequently tease him that we should just move up there and this series reignited that desire!
Wild at Heart by K.A. Tucker
I couldn’t wait to pick up the sequel to The Simple Wild! While I loved the end of the first book, it did feel a bit rushed. I was excited to watch how Calla and Jonah navigate their relationship.
In Wild at Heart, Calla and Jonah begin their new life together in Alaska with the best of intentions. They wind up settling down in an area more rural and isolated than Calla expected. With Jonah gone more than he’s home, Calla’s social connections consist of an overbearing neighbor on one side trying to transform her into something she isn’t and a grumpy old hermit on the other. As the months wear on, Calla finds herself compromising more and more for Jonah’s dreams while struggling to uncover her own.
This book dragged a little bit for me in the middle. Sometimes Calla’s character is hard for me to relate to. The story did read more as women’s fiction than romance as it’s mostly about Calla’s journey to find her place in her new environment. The conflict between her and Jonah felt a little weak, like one honest conversation could have sorted it out. Still once it hit the turning point, I was hooked for the rest of the story. I really fell in love with Trapper’s Crossing and the new characters Tucker introduced.
Forever Wild by K.A. Tucker
I believe this novella is the conclusion to Calla and Jonah’s story. It’s short, sweet, and takes place over the Christmas holidays so it was a bonus perfect read for this month.
In Forever Wild, Calla and Jonah are preparing for their families and close friends to spend Christmas with them. It’s the first time Jonah has seen his mother in four years. Tensions are high though since he hates his stepfather. Calla can’t wait to see her mother and Simon but she is dreading the pressure from her mother to have their wedding in Toronto. Agnes, a sullen Mabel, and their meddlesome new neighbors complete the holiday gathering.
I really enjoyed this holiday novella and it felt like the perfect ending for Calla and Jonah. I loved spending time with all of my favorite characters from the two previous books and seeing how everyone interacted together. While Calla and Jonah’s story is finished, it looks like we will get at least one more romance set in this world – Dr. Marie Lehr’s story! Although she isn’t my favorite side character, I plan to check this one out! I hope we get more stories featuring these lovable friends and neighbors.
This Christmas by Sarah Spade
This holiday novella was on my TBR list for Christmas romances to enjoy this December. I previously read Halloween Boo by Sarah Spade at the end of October. As of this writing, both are available on Kindle Unlimited.
This Christmas shares Allison and Max’s story. Last Christmas, they met in a bar while they were each spending the holiday alone. After giving each other false names, they had a one night stand. Max had to leave in a hurry the next morning to deal with a work emergency and due to the fake names, they never got in touch with one another again. Now this Christmas, Allison is shocked to discover her best friend’s brother, Max, is actually the man from last Christmas and also her boss! Circumstances throw them together and this Christmas, they get a second chance to get things right.
This novella didn’t work for me. I felt like the story line was overly complicated for the length of the book. There wasn’t enough character development for me to care about either of them or believe the chemistry between them. Although I liked Halloween Boo because of it’s quirkiness and spin on Hocus Pocus, I don’t think I’ll continue reading this series.
What did you read in December?
