December 2025 Wrap Up
Let's review December's reading, shall we? I read 10 books in December. That sounds like a lot, but fully five of those were audiobooks, and two were manga graphic novels. So I still didn't spend a lot of time reading with my eyes. Let's discuss.
Sense and Suitability by Pepper Basham - This was very cute. Emmeline Lockhart fell in love with a man who was known for leading women on and then ditching them, which is exactly what it looks like he did to her. 2 years later, she still hasn't married when the rake himself comes back to town. His father and his cousin both died on a trip to the Caribbean to check their plantations and now he has inherited the title his cousin left vacant along with all the debt his cousin and father racked up. He must marry a woman with money. Emmeline is his first choice, but she has no money. That he knows of. It was a fun read. I knew where it was going to end up, but it was fun watching it get there.'
The Dangerous Love of a Rogue by Jane Lark - This was not nearly as fun or cute. I actually can't believe I finished it. I guess I kept hoping it would pull out of the nosedive it was in. Lord Framlington is the bastard son of two parents who were neither happy nor faithful. His whole family all act like that. He sees Mary Marlowe's family who all appear to love each other. He wants that, except he has to figure out how to earn it. He wins the heart of Mary Marlowe and convinces him to elope with him. Her father catches them and forces them to marry (which was his plan all along). Now they are married, and he finally has figured out how to earn her love, but now she doesn't trust him. This guy is red flags all the way. Everything he said was a giant red flag. And the ending was abysmal. Now he loves her, but she is not having it. The end. Terrible.
Stolen In Death by J. D. Robb - I really enjoyed this one. Especially after the dumpster fire of the last book. It's like #62 in the series, but it didn't matter at all. Eve Dallas is a detective in the year 2063 or something in New York. There are all kinds of futuristic amenities, like a programmable chef thing that will conjure up whatever you want to eat. The cars fly occasionally. Stuff like that. Anyway, this rich guy is murdered while someone was taking an invaluable set of jewels out of his secret safe. He inherited the house and the safe from his father. The safe is full of stolen art and jewelry going back decades. The guy and his family didn't know anything about the safe until some painters accidentally found it while repainting the study. It was a good mystery and I really enjoyed listening. I intend to look into a few more of the books in the series.
Lessons From Cats for Survivng Fascism by Stewart "Brittlestar" Reynolds - My friend bought this for me at our December Nerd Night. I read it within a few days. It's pretty cute. Some of the lessons are pretty deep. Like, just ignoring commands. That is a thing cats do and also a thing that irritates fascists.
Cat + Crazy Vol. 2 by Wataru Nadatani - This was pretty cute. Obviously the cats are cute. In this one, our intrepid, would-be cat whisperer has to rescue all the stray cats who have been remove from town. Another cat lover has gathered them all up to go in her cat shelter, because of course every cat would prefer to be indoors on soft couches than out in the rain. He convinces her to let the cats choose. Some cats want to be on soft couches and other cats want to be free. I am not in a hurry to read more in this series. It's cute, but a little weird. If I desperately need a quick read, I'll get one.
Plum Crazy! Tales of a Tiger-Striped Cat by Natsumi Hoshino - This one is aimed at a younger audience and therefore wasn't really my thing. Plum is a cat that belongs to a traditional Japanese dance instructor and her son who is in high school. One day Plum brings home a tiny, sick kitten. After they nurse it back to health, it become a wild and crazy kitten who frequently bites Plum. She doesn't defend herself, she just runs. At one point, she is threatened by another animal and she hisses and fights back, and the owners don't understand why she won't do that with Snowball the Kitten. Then one day, Snowball defends her from a bigger animal and they come to an understanding and become friends. The end.
Every Day I Read: 53 Ways to Get Closer to Books by Hwang Bo-Reum - This was a fun listen, but I definitely need to acquire a paper copy of this to read more closely. The short essays provide ideas for improving your reading life.
Kind of Kin by Rilla Askew - This was the book club book for December. We really enjoyed it. The characters were mostly horrible, but also people you know. Probably family members. Distant ones, of course. In a small Oklahoma town, a white man is arrested when his barn is raided and a bunch of illegal immigrants are found hiding there. All but one. The man and the Mexican preacher (who is a citizen of the U.S.) refuse to make bail to make a point. They sit in jail in protest of the anti-immigration laws the state Senate is enacting. The one guy they didn't find in the barn meets up with the guy's grandson and they take a trip to find his sons in Guymon. Of course, to the rest of the world it looks like he kidnapped him. The guy in jail's granddaughter is married to a man who is in the U.S. illegally. He was deported, but he came back. Now they are also on the run. The daughter of the jailed farmer is in the middle of the mess trying take care of her son and her nephew and her niece convince her dad to take bail and get out of jail. It's a very chaotic read, but the good people are amazing.
May Contain Murder by Orlando Murrin - This is the second in a series. It might have been helpful to read the first one, in order to make the beginning more relevant, but it ended up being a pretty good yarn. Paul is invited onto a superyacht that is taking his friend Xera (I actually don't know how it's spelled. She is French and he pronounces her name Zerrrrrra with a trilled R) and her new husband and family on a trip from England to the Carribbean maybe? It doesn't matter because first her expensive necklace is stolen, then she chokes on a piece of chocolate cake and dies. Except Paul knows she was murdered. The antics begin. It was kind of madcap and Paul himself is snarky and fun. Not too shabby overall.
A Poem For Every Night of the Year by Allie Esiri - I got this for Christmas last year, and it took the whole year to read it, for obvious reasons. I didn't read it every night. Sometimes I fell behind and had to do a massive catchup, but I did read the whole thing this year. It came in clutch as my 80th book of the year to reach my Goodreads goal.
And there you have it. All the books I read in December. Whew!