Introducing Blogmas & Books I Read in November

Happy Blogmas!

I’m so excited to announce this although I’m a bit nervous, as well.

Blogmas is a blogging challenge where I am going to post every day until Christmas.

Yes, you heard me right.

Every. Single. Day.

For years, I’ve posted only once a week (on Fridays) but this year, I decided to push my comfort zone and see if I can do 25 consecutive posts from now until Christmas. Not only will it push me creatively, but it will also be a fun process along the way.

I will be honest, though. I debated doing this. It seems very odd to be pushing out Christmas content when this year has been everything but merry and bright. COVID has hit us all in some way, even if we haven’t had it physically. It has affected us in more ways than one and this holiday season looks different no matter how you approach it.

That is exactly why I decided to try Blogmas this year. 2020 is the year of unexpected things, of hard things, of small great things. We’ve been in this together from the start, and I want to encourage you to find the good even if this holiday season looks different for you. (It looks different for us, too.)

So with that said, you won’t want to miss the awesome content I’ve been planning. It’s a creative challenge worth taking to help spread some Christmas cheer to you every day. (Even though that sounded extremely cheesy.) Be sure to subscribe and come back for your daily cup of Christmas cheer, brought to you by your friendly neighborhood coffee addict (aka me).

Today we’re kicking off Blogmas by wrapping up November with the books I read last month. Tomorrow will start the Christmas content, I promise!

American Royals — Katharine McGee (3.5/5 stars)

What if America was a monarchy instead of a democracy? This was such an interesting concept for a book and I was immediately hooked. Although it’s for adults, it was written more elementary than I was expecting. It’s a quick read and I’m waiting for the sequel to come in from the library!

In Five Years — Rebecca Serle (4/5 stars)

A few of you recommended In Five Years to me and it finally came in the library so I had high hopes for this book. I purposely didn’t read any summaries or reviews before starting it so I went in blind. It definitely wasn’t what I expected but towards the middle, I couldn’t put it down. This was also a quick read; you can easily read it in a weekend if you wanted to!

A Dog’s Journey — W. Bruce Cameron (5/5 stars)

I’m a sucker for this series. If you read A Dog’s Purpose (or saw the movie) then you need to read this. A Dog’s Journey is the second book in the A Dog’s Purpose trilogy. It made me want to hug Lucy and I definitely got emotional at some parts. Highly recommend.

Britt Marie Was Here — Fredrik Backman (3/5 stars)

I wasn’t a huge fan of this but heard it was made into a movie so decided to give it a whirl. It’s about an older woman who finds herself coaching a kids’ soccer team in the middle of a small town. That’s actually a terrible summary but the book was meh. Not my favorite but not the worst.

Between the Lines — Jodi Picoult and Samantha Van Leer (4/5 stars)

What if the main character of your favorite book decided he didn’t want to be part of the story anymore? That’s the premise of Between the Lines and it was such a fascinating concept to me. The book is written by Jodi Picoult (one of my favorite authors) and her daughter. I didn’t realize this when I picked it up from the library, but it’s geared towards a younger audience (e.g., teenagers, young adult) so the chapters are short and you can finish it pretty quickly. Apparently there’s a sequel so I just ordered it — TBD on if it’s worth reading!