December 2022 Wrap Up

I didn't bother with a wrap up half way through December because I hadn't read very much at that point. So today I will wrap up all the books I read in December.

Take a Hint Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert -  This is the second book in the Brown Sisters Trilogy. I really loved the first one. This one, less so. The main character was less relatable to me. She was a work-a-holic who doesn't believe in relationships. The sex scenes were very spicy, but I still have questions about how they managed some of the positions described. It was on my 50 by 50 list, so it has that going for it.

Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku Vol. 2 by Fujita - This is the sequel to the first volume (obvi) that I read last month. I actually like this one more. It's sort of a slice of life of young, single, working adults in Tokyo. They are nerdy and some of them try to hide it, others don't see a reason to hide. It's lots of fun for me.

Loveless by Alice Oseman - I like the point of this novel. It's YA, but the characters are in college. The main character is trying to figure out what's wrong with her because the idea of kissing someone or being touched romantically makes her physically nauseous. She didn't know asexuality was a thing. In the meantime, her gay best friend is falling for her roommate who appears to be straight. Much angst ensues. As I said, I like the premise. The characters tended to make me want to throw the book. Teenagers! Also, this fulfilled a challenge to read a book with an asexual main character.

The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy 2021 - I really enjoyed the stories in this collection. One or two were less than awesome, but still good. Mostly they were really fascinating or fun or some other adjective that indicates enjoyment. Also, this book wrapped up my Book Riot Read Harder Challenge. I did all 24 challenges in 2022.

Song of Silver, Flame Like Night by Amelie Wen Zhao - I read this in order to write a review of it on NetGalley. I didn't realize it was a YA book until about the 70% mark. At about that point I ran into some clunky language that I thought was more likely to be found in a YA novel. Then I started thinking about other markers of a YA novel and realized this totally fit. It just had way less romance and angst than I'm used to in YA. The book is based on Asian mythology. The words in the other language are marked like they are to be pronounced like Chinese. Mostly, I thought about it as taking place in China. The bad buys are Elantian, and are described as big white guys. I liked the magic system. I liked the parts that were set in the magic school. It was beautifully described and was actually sort of calming. The secondary characters were pretty good, too.

The Lazy Genius Way: Embrace What Matters, Ditch What Doesn't, and Get Stuff Done by Kendra Adachi - This is about changing your attitude to getting stuff done, so you are happier with your life. You can't do it all. I'll have you know she totally condones dumping all your laundry in one load. If she separates her laundry, it is separated by where it is going to go when it gets done. All my laundry goes in the same place, so that doesn't work for me. But when I was still doing my kids' laundry, this is exactly how I did it. I learned some tips to use and I have a better understanding of what's important to me. For example, Adachi loves to bake. It is important to her to have homemade bread available, so she makes several loaves a week. I dislike baking. So, I will purchase my bread. It is important to me to spend as much time as possible with my books. So a large part of the space in my house is taken with books. Tada!

Ok. That's it. That's what I've read in December. 6 books isn't the worst reading month I've ever had. December brought a lot of stress, as is to be expected, and I didn't spend as much time reading. Also, I was racing to finish my Read Harder Challenge. I'm not doing that this year, so I don't have that hanging over my head, but I do have other challenges.