Hello Readers! I hope your new year has started well! I wasn’t quite ready for it, which is why my haul post is going up later than usual. Better late than never, right?! You can see what I read in my December 2021 Monthly Wrap-Up post, and see what I thought about my reading year in my 2021 Reading Stats and Survey post, as well.

My December Haul is abundant. All these new books make me even more determined to read more off of my existing shelves in the new year. I also added many, many ebooks—including some 2022 eARCs and some freebies. Perfect timing for my new Christmas gift from my husband, a new Kindle Paperwhite! I’ve been using an ancient iPad Mini, which I could no longer update. (He also discovered that we could receive a credit if we returned an older Kindle, which I’d used even before the iPad Mini! Talk about ancient!) It was super cute that he even addressed the label to ‘A Book Wanderer’. Let me know if you have any Kindle tips. I’ve spent the past week re-familiarizing myself with Calibre so I can get my iBooks and Kobo books on my Kindle, as well.

Let’s take a look at my haul for December!

(Link to synopsis on Goodreads through the book title.)

My eARCs

I actually received my first two eARCs in October but I somehow missed including them in my October AND November hauls. Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson is getting a lot of early buzz!

Synopsis:

In this moving debut novel, two estranged siblings must set aside their differences to deal with their mother’s death and her hidden past–a journey of discovery that takes them from the Caribbean to London to California and ends with her famous black cake. 

We can’t choose what we inherit. But can we choose who we become?

In present-day California, Eleanor Bennett’s death leaves behind a puzzling inheritance for her two children, Byron and Benny: a traditional Caribbean black cake, made from a family recipe with a long history, and a voice recording. In her message, Eleanor shares a tumultuous story about a headstrong young swimmer who escapes her island home under suspicion of murder. The heartbreaking tale Eleanor unfolds, the secrets she still holds back, and the mystery of a long-lost child, challenge everything the siblings thought they knew about their lineage, and themselves.

Can Byron and Benny reclaim their once-close relationship, piece together Eleanor’s true history, and fulfill her final request to “share the black cake when the time is right”? Will their mother’s revelations bring them back together or leave them feeling more lost than ever?

Charmaine Wilkerson’s debut novel is a story of how the inheritance of betrayals, secrets, memories, and even names, can shape relationships and history. Deeply evocative and beautifully written, Black Cake is an extraordinary journey through the life of a family changed forever by the choices of its matriarch.

Expected February 1, 2022

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I’ve read the first few pages of Bend Toward the Sun by Jen Devon and I was hooked immediately! This debut is getting glowing early reviews!

Synopsis:

A gorgeous, emotional love story about taking unexpected paths, accepting loss, and finding strength in the transformative power of love.

Rowan McKinnon believes love isn’t real. Armed with a PhD in botany, two friends who accept her social quirkiness, and some occasional no-strings sex, she has everything she needs. What she doesn’t share is that she hides deep wounds from the past—by an emotionally negligent mother, and by a fiancé who treated her like a pawn in a game. The only love she’s ever known came from her grandmother Edie, who taught her to care for all things that grow. After a chance encounter at a future winery, Rowan is captivated—by the beauty of the land, the challenge of the vineyards’ restoration, and by the warm and inviting family that plans to run it. They’ll offer her a job. She’ll eventually accept it.

And try not to think about Harrison Brady.

Harry Brady is a doctor. Was a doctor. An obstetrician profoundly struggling after the unexpected loss of a patient, Harry no longer believes he is capable of keeping people safe. Reeling from the loss and his crumbled four-year relationship, Harry leaves Los Angeles to spend time emotionally recuperating at his parents’ new vineyard in Pennsylvania. He’ll work to get the place ready to open, and try to pick up the pieces of his heart. Because if there’s one thing Harry Brady knows how to do, it is love deeply, fiercely, with his whole heart.

As soon as he meets Rowan McKinnon, sunlight begins to crack through the dark cloud smothering Harry’s soul. He wants to explore the compelling pull between them. Rowan just wants to keep things casual—she’s spent a lifetime protecting herself against feeling anything, for anyone.

But even Rowan can feel their extraordinary connection tilting the axis of the world they both thought they understood.

A moving, powerful novel about the ways love can irrevocably change your life, BEND TOWARD THE SUN is a cinematic, unforgettable romance.

Expected August 9, 2022

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When author Priscilla Oliveras’ team invited me to read Amor Actually: A Holiday Romance Anthology, a Latin-inspired take on the film Love Actually, I couldn’t say no. I love the film, and this updated version was all kinds of fun!

Synopsis:

Nochebuena. One party. Nine Happily Ever Afters. 

It’s Christmas Eve in New York City, when anything is possible. For these couples, it’s the season to find true love. From second-chances, big leaps, missed connections, and reconnections, this charming collection celebrates the spirit of the holidays and delivers nine perfect HEAs. 

From seven acclaimed and bestselling Latina authors—Zoey Castile, Alexis Daria, Adriana Herrera, Diana Muñoz Stewart, Priscilla Oliveras, Sabrina Sol, and Mia Sosa—comes a holiday romance collection like never before. 


Available December 7, 2021
My Review

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One of my next reads is Digging Up Love (Taste of Love, #1) by Chandra Blumberg, a debut I was invited to read and couldn’t resist!

Synopsis:

From debut author Chandra Blumberg comes a playful, heartfelt romance about chasing your dreams and finding love in the process.

Alisha Blake works her magic in the kitchen, creating delectable desserts for her grandfather’s restaurant in rural Illinois. Though Alisha relishes the close relationship she has with her family, she can’t help but dream about opening a cookie shop in Chicago. She may be a small-town baker, but Alisha has big ambitions.

Then a dinosaur bone turns up in her grandparents’ backyard. When paleontologist Quentin Harris arrives to see the discovery for himself, he’s hoping that the fossil will distract him from a recent painful breakup. Instead, he finds Alisha—and sparks fly. The big-city academic and the hometown baker seem destined for a happily ever after.

But Alisha is scared to fall in love. And Quentin’s trying to make a name for himself in a competitive field, which gets even more complicated when the press shows up at the dig site. For love to prevail, the two may have to put old bones aside—and focus on the future. 

Available January 1, 2022

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After reading and enjoying the Amazon Original Holiday Stories last month, I was happy to accept an invitation to read The Wedding Setup: A Short Story by Sonali Dev! This will be my first read by Dev, and I figured it’s a great way to be introduced to the author.

Synopsis:

From USA Today bestselling author Sonali Dev comes a heartfelt short story about one woman’s journey of self-discovery and what it means to be happy.

Ayesha Shetty lost her brother seven years ago, the same time she lost everything else important to her: her dreams, her fierce independence, and the man she loved. Not wanting to see her mother hurt anymore, she put her wild self away and became the dutiful daughter her mother needed and took on her brother’s role in the family business.

Now her best friend’s big, fat Indian wedding is a chance to get away from her endless duties at the restaurant and maybe even have some fun (if she remembers how). But a setup arranged by her mother, with a doctor no less, is the last thing she needs. The fact that he checks all her mother’s boxes just makes everything better…and worse.

Then Emmitt Hughes shows up. Her brother’s best friend. The love she once chose over family duties and her responsibilities. The one she asked to leave, and who did. The one who knows the real Ayesha. Torn between a love from the past that could cost her the only person she has left and her sense of obligation to her mother, will Ayesha find the strength to stop thinking about what everyone else wants and finally put herself first? Or is the old Ayesha truly gone for good?

Expected January 11, 2022

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First Time for Everything, a debut novel by Henry Fry, sounds absolutely hilarious. I couldn’t say no to this one!

Synopsis:

An unflinchingly honest, wickedly funny, and heartfelt debut about a down-on-his-luck gay man working out how he fits into the world, making up for lost time, and opening himself up to life’s possibilities

Danny Scudd is absolutely fine. He always dreamed of escaping the small-town life of his parents’ fish-and-chip shop, moving to London, and becoming a journalist. And, after five years in the city, his career isn’t exactly awful, and his relationship with pretentious Tobbs isn’t exactly unfulfilling. Certainly his limited-edition Dolly Parton vinyls and many (maybe too many) house plants are hitting the spot. But his world is flipped upside down when a visit to the local clinic reveals that Tobbs might not have been exactly faithful. In fact, Tobbs claims they were never operating under the “heteronormative paradigm” of monogamy to begin with. Oh, and Danny’s flatmates are unceremoniously evicting him because they want to start a family. It’s all going quite well.

Newly single and with nowhere to live, Danny is forced to move in with his best friend, Jacob, a flamboyant nonbinary artist whom he’s known since childhood, and their eccentric group of friends living in an East London “commune.” What follows is a colorful voyage of discovery through modern queer life, dating, work, and lots of therapy–all places Danny has always been too afraid to fully explore. Upon realizing just how little he knows about himself and his sexuality, he careens from one questionable decision (and man) to another, relying on his inscrutable new therapist and housemates to help him face the demons he’s spent his entire life trying to repress. Is he really fine, after all?

Expected May 10, 2022

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I’m very intrigued by this Romeo-and-Juliet-fundamentalist-church-inspired debut! Corinne by Rebecca Morrow is getting great early reviews, as well.

Synopsis:

“I was riveted…A modern-day Romeo & Juliet.”—Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Two Ways

You want to walk away from the things that were bad for you and never look back.

That’s what Corinne Callahan wants.

Cast out of the fundamentalist church she was raised in and cut off from her family, Corinne builds a new life for herself. A good one. But she never stops missing the life—and the love— she’s left behind.

It’s Enoch Miller who ruins everything for her. It was always Enoch Miller. She’ll never get him out from under her skin.

Set over fifteen years and told with astonishing intimacy, Rebecca Morrow’s Corinne is the story of a woman who risks everything she’s built for the one man she can never have. 

Expected July 12, 2022

My Paperbackswap Books

I added a few books from Paperbackswap this month. I actually received My Brilliant Friend in October, but it arrived smelling like cigarette smoke. I placed it in a sealed ziploc bag with a box of baking soda and pulled it out in December to find the smell was gone! So, if you’ve ever wondered if that works, it does! 🙂

• My Brilliant Friend (The Neapolitan Novels, #1) by Elena Ferrante
• The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
• Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey

My Free Ebooks

I added several new ebooks that were available for free in December—most of them holiday reads!

• A Lighthouse Christmas by Jenny Hale
• I’m Glad I Found You this Christmas by C.P. Ward
• Love is Coming to Town: A Small Town Christmas Romance Anthology
• Holidate (Dating, #3) by Monica Murphy
• Love at Coco Bay by Kirsty McManus
• Truth or Beard (Winston Brothers, #1) by Penny Reid

Purchases

• Conversations With Friends by Sally Rooney – While we were on a quick vacation before Christmas in Durango, Colorado, we visited Maria’s Bookshop on the main strip in town and picked up this book. It was nice to see the store rather full of customers—everyone cheerful, polite, and masked up! I love the book community! I’m hoping to read this one before I watch the upcoming adaptation.
• Seven Stones to Stand or Fall by Diana Gabaldon – I also picked up this Outlander collection of short stories in Durango at the most charming used book store, Second Story Books!
• The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera – I purchased this one from Thriftbooks to fulfill a prompt on my reading challenge for this year.
• A Torch Against the Night (An Ember in the Ashes, #2) by Sabaa Tahir – I purchased this one from Thriftbooks, as well, to fulfill another prompt on my challenge.

We also picked up a ‘blind date’ book at Second Story Books. I’ve always wanted to try one, and it felt like a fun way to support the bookstore, as well. The tag read: “Blind date in an intimate cabin in the woods immersed in nature (Non-Fiction)”. We didn’t open it until we got home, and we discovered it’s a book by David Petersen called On the Wild Edge about his and his wife’s experience living in the Colorado wilderness. I’m not sure it’s one I’ll read, but it was fun trying to guess what the book would be!

Gifted

Our Top Ten Tuesday before Christmas was a Bookish Wishes post where we shared our book wishlists. I had two wishes granted (Thank you!!), as well as getting to pop around the blogosphere and grant a few wishes myself. <3 I received The Heart Principle (The Kiss Quotient, #3) by Helen Hoang, which has been high up on my tbr since it was released, and Mind the Gap, Dash & Lily (Dash & Lily, #3) by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan. I was hoping to read this one over the holidays, but I haven’t had time to read it yet!

Giveaway

A Lot Like Adiós (Primas of Power, #2) by Alexis Daria showed up on my doorstep one day from the publisher, Harper Collins. I vaguely remember entering a giveaway for it. 😉 Daria was one of the authors I recently read for the first time in the Amor Actually anthology, so I’m excited to try one of her novels. The invoice also included The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling listed on backorder, so hopefully it will show up sometime soon, as well!

My Book HookUp Subscription Box

I received my quarterly YA subscription box from The Book HookUp in December. I’ll be sharing an unboxing post soon, but it included two books:

• You’ll Be the Death of Me by Karen M. McManus – I’ve been super excited about this one since I read and enjoyed One of Us is Lying. This one is inspired by the film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off!
• The Lying Woods by Ashley Elston – I’d never heard of this book, but my current read is Elston’s 10 Blind Dates, which I’m enjoying!

Amazon First Reads

My Amazon First Reads pick for December was The Paid Bridesmaid by Sariah Wilson. This rom-com about a bridesmaid-for-hire sounds like fun!

Available January 1, 2022

Whew, what a haul! Have you read any of these books? Did you add any of them to your TBR? Let me know in the comments!

Happy Wandering!